Why Ndigbo must vote APC, by Tinubu

National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has urged all Lagos residents, especially the Igbo community, to vote for the party in the general elections.He noted that Lagos could decide to behave in a way that would not favour the visitors, if they fail to support the party.

Tinubu spoke yesterday at the party’s Ikeja secretariat while addressing thousands of party faithful after the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC) meeting.

Brimming with confidence for victory at the polls, the former governor said: “We appeal to our Igbo brothers, from the east; this is the state where you conduct your business; your children are in our schools. We don’t discriminate against them in our West African Examinations Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO) or Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) fees. Even in our universities, they take the benefit of our tuition allowances and all that. Now, we say help us; vote for us and our candidates.”

Tinubu, accompanied by the party’s governorship candidate, Babajide Sanwoolu; his deputy, Kadri Hamzat, and other party leaders, reminded the Igbo how much they benefitted from the APC government, adding that he was specifically instrumental in the aversion of the demolition of Auto Spare Parts and Machinery Dealers Association (ASPAMDA) business district, owned majorly by the Igbo.

“We are in this together. We will know how many votes we will get from Ojo, Alaba, Surulere, Amuwo-Odofin, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, including Oshodi.He assured the party of victory, urging the supporters to be peaceful during the elections and pray for the successful conduct of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

“You must go out to vote. Remember the orders of the president against ballot box snatchers and electoral violators. I am not the commander in chief; hence I don’t control any army. Avoid violence and all forms of activities that will put you in trouble and be assured that after the elections we will re-converge to celebrate our victory,” he added.Publicity secretary of the party in Lagos, Joe Igbokwe, described the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as an ordinary citizen who has no right to order the military.

Responding to Buhari’s remark that the military and the police had been directed to be ruthless at ballot box snatchers, Atiku had said that deployment of troops “creates an atmosphere of warfare, which in turn heats up the polity, which is why it is not a common occurrence in other climes during elections.”

Igbokwe said: “Apart from INEC, there are other institutions that can help to stabilise our democracy; we have the police and the army. We need to make use of them to sanitise our electoral process. The president its clear that anyone who tries to circumvent the electoral process has himself to blame, and we are saying that ballot box snatchers are more dangerous than armed robbers.”