Tinubu sets himself the target of delivering a minimum of 3m votes for Buhari in Lagos State

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) national leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has set himself a target of delivering 3m votes for President Muhammadu Buhari in next year's presidential elections.

Nigeria's most populated state, with a population of about 21m people in total, Lagos State has 6m registered voters and is always a key battleground. Asiwaju Tinubu was once the governor between 1999 and 2007 and managed to deliver the state marginally in 2015 to the APC but next year, the fight for Lagos is looking tight.

Former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who is standing as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), also has Lagos in his sights. Apart from having the highest number of voters, Lagos accounts for one quarter of Nigeria's gross domestic product (GDP), one third of non-oil GDP and 95% of foreign direct investment.

Asiwaju Tinubu said he is hoping to deliver 3m votes to the APC next February  to reinforce Lagos State's relevance as Nigeria's centre of excellence. He told party members, however, that to succeed in the exercise, they need to renew their faith in reconciliation, embrace peace, work for unity and embark on an aggressive mobilisation of the electorate.

“We have 6m votes in Lagos. Your target should be half, which is 3m or the entire 6m. We must deliver over 3m votes in Lagos.”

Speaking at an APC stakeholders’ meeting held at the party’s secretariat on Acme Road, Ogba, Ikeja, Asiwaju Tinubu thanked the party leaders, particularly Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, for respecting the wish of the party and prayed that the governor will live long. Apart from Governor Ambode and his deputy, Dr Idiat Adebule, other APC members who attended included its governorship candidate Babajide Sanwoolu, his running mate, Dr Obafemi Hamzat and the Lagos State House of Assembly speaker Mudashiru Obasa.

In a show of magnanimity, Governor Ambode, who said the party is supreme, reiterated his endorsement of the Sanwoolu/Hamzat ticket by raising up the hands of the candidate and his running mate, urging other aggrieved aspirants to emulate his example. He called for what he described as a platform for continuous reconciliation and compensation for aggrieved aspirants, who should be assured of promissory notes.

Mr Sanwoolu promised a government of continuity, if elected, urging Lagosians to vote for a party of progress. Frowning at PDP candidate Jimi Agbaje’s remark that Lagos State was in bondage, Dr Hamzat said the state was liberated from bankruptcy 19 years ago when Asiwaju Tinubu worked assiduously to increase its internally generated revenue from N600m to N31bn.

Reflecting on the plight of the APC in Osun State during the recent governorship election, Asiwaju Tinubu lamented the fact that out of 49,000 votes voided by polling officers, 42,000 were cast for the party. To avert the danger of vote voiding, he urged members to use their index fingers for thumb-printing on the small space on ballot papers on election day.