The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola is optimistic that right-thinking and well-meaning Nigerians will vote for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 presidential election.
Fashola said the ruling party would win the election because it has served Nigeria as efficiently as it can.
The former governor of Lagos State said this on Sunday, July 24, 2022, when he featured on Channels TV’s Sunday Politics.
Fashola says: “Nigerians have had the opportunity of two governments.
“On a very deep reflection, right-thinking and well-meaning Nigerians will re-elect our party into governance, I am optimistic about that.
“I think we have served this country as efficiently as we can — in the most difficult of times.
“No government has faced COVID; we did. No government has faced a global scarcity of resources caused by a war in which we are not involved; we did and we are still managing that economy, providing hope and sustainability.
“I’m optimistic that we will win.”
On the recent spat between the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC’s presidential candidate, Fashola advised them to settle their differences and begin to base their campaigns on issues.
He said, “The exchange of words, at best, I will call it a stumble. They should quickly recalibrate.”
How the word war began: The face-off between Atiku and Tinubu kicked off when the former Vice President during his interview on Arise TV said he rejected Tinubu to be his Vice Presidential candidate for the 2007 presidential election.
Atiku said this while reacting to a question regarding the APC’s controversial Muslim-Muslim ticket.
It would be recalled that Tinubu recently picked a fellow Muslim, Kashim Shettima as his running mate for the 2023 presidential election.
Reacting to Atiku’s claim, the Tinubu Campaign Organisation (TCO) said Atiku is not ready to become a president.
The organisation said during the interview, Atiku failed to respond to important questions, adding that the PDP flagbearer “muddled up facts and exhibited befuddling absence of mind during the interview.”
Tinubu also countered Atiku’s claim saying it was actually the latter that asked him to fill the vice presidential spot, which he (Tinubu) declined.
But Atiku won’t let the comment from Tinubu’s camp slide as he fired another shot at the former governor of Lagos in a statement by his Media Adviser to Atiku, Paul Ibe.
In the statement, Atiku insinuated that Tinubu’s memory may not be what it used to be.
He said if Tinubu could forget the name of his party, he would certainly forget what happened in 2007 and 2015.