Port Harcourt— A faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state, loyal to Senator Magnus Abe, have inaugurated a group known as the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Support(BATS), Vanguard newspaper reports.
Speaking during the BATS Rivers chapter inauguration in Port Harcourt on Sunday , Sen. Wilson Ake alleged that the 2020 EndSARS crisis was instigated by detractors of Bola Ahmed Tinubu who are against his presidential ambition in 2023.
Ake who is the Chairman of the group’s Steering Committee stated that the national chairman of the All progressive Congress (APC) meets all requirements to be the next president of Nigeria.
He argued that those who bring up the age factor whenever Tinubu’s name comes up as president are being insincere, adding that quality rather than age is what matters in governance citing the performance of present governors who are relatively Young as veritable example.
“For someone to work and another person will come and eat is not of God. We are supporting Tinubu because we know that he is eminently qualified, and he has worked so hard to see APC win.
“We do not have that wicked spirit in us. That is why we are saying we must pay back Tinubu what he has put into APC.
“We are not against anybody. Anybody who wants to try should go ahead, but they should not use the question that they must eliminate Tinubu to succeed.
“They went far as starting EndSARS in Lagos. EndSARS ended up by burning Tinubu’s hotel, his television house, his newspaper house when Tinubu is not in government.
“You can see the target is how do we decimate this man. After you have worked so hard, then people will say you should go to the back and sit and the good man and good woman will clap for such thing,” he said.
He continued, “When they talk about age I begin to ask, Buhari is the oldest man in government, both President, Governor and everything. Can you say any of them has performed better than Buhari now, because he is old?
“If they are now saying that Tinubu is old, it them means that they are regretting brightening Buhari, that is what they are trying to say, so they should come out opening to say that.
“Looking at all the state Governors, they are within the age bracket of 30 and 50. Is there any magic coming from them? Instead of them to look out for quality, they are emphasizing age. That shows we are not serious in this country,” he said.
“Anybody using the question of age to attack, disqualify Tinubu is merely playing the Ostrich and we cannot allow that to distract us.”It is only fair and respect for justice if we should say, Tinubu should be the next president of Nigeria.”
Coordinator of Rivers BATS, Chief Tony Okocha, noted, “We know he (Tinubu) has the midas touch. We know he is competent, experienced and we know he is detribalized. So if we have a nationalist like that why won’t we support him?”
Okocha stressed that the mission of BATS in Rivers is to mobilize 50,000 APC supporters in the state to promote Tinubu for the prime position in 2023.
