WorldStage Newsonline– Former Lagos Governor and National Leader of the ruling All Progressive Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has acknowledged that the party did not envisage that there would be so much challenges when it took over, but that it was still on course to fix Nigeria.
Speaking at in Lagos at the 10th Bola Tinubu Colloquium in his honour which President Muhammadu Buhari attended, he said, “We gave our people hope; we believed in Nigeria and in ourselves, thinking we can change Nigeria for good and we are still going to do it.”
Text of speech
We have to put our heads together, believing in ourselves that we are going to do it. We can give our people the best through the competent hands that we have.
I have a prepared speech, but I am not going to dwell on that. Life is not without challenges. Our logo is broom, we come together, you have a Nigeria focusing against terrorism, against corruption and to promote economic revival of the country.
We have faced challenges in the last three years. We came in with a lot of hope and enthusiasm as APC leaders. We gave our people hope; we believed in Nigeria and in ourselves, thinking we can change Nigeria for good and we are still going to do it. Life is nothing without challenges. Our logo is broom bound together. This symbolizes a united Nigeria against terrorism, corruption and revival of the economy.
I can see what the government is doing with the little resources at its disposal. This has been demonstrated in practical terms.
What’s the lesson to all Nigerians: forget those parties; they won’t come back. We did not envisage that there would be so much challenges. So, we would report back to Nigerians about what we found on ground. We did not say that there would be no challenges, because even America is facing challenges. They have wasted our resources.
Thank you Nigerians for being patient with us! But there is a clear understanding here; that the difference between us and them is like day and night. My grandmother used to ask me to write letters to her. Somebody is writing letters now, letter of politics these days. As if they have not been there before. Bad belle letters!
I’m happy the President can change the course of the ship wreckage. The ship of this country that is headed in the wrong direction. To steer the ship back or anchor before redirecting it, which of course is necessary. And we started this journey. The voyage is on. The voyage of hope, the voyage that we are reclaiming Nigeria, that we are retooling Nigeria, re-inventing Nigeria and re-directing Nigeria. It’s not an easy course to embark upon…
For 16 years they looted the country and they say we shouldn’t talk about it, as if we should just go ahead and run our government. On our part, we have good leaders to salvage the situation and we have hope that we can do it. We must put all that is necessary in place, to stimulate the economy.
Don’t take their apologies; they lied, they falsified, they changed figures, they made fake promises and they say we shouldn’t talk about them.
We have a nation to rescue; we have a good leader to emulate and we have hope. We have reduced the propensity for corruption. We must strengthen the pension plank to stimulate growth. I will submit a proposal on how we can stimulate the economy. We don’t have to pay for a house of N10 million in one day and with cash; we need mortgage. This would discourage corruption.
We must articulate a programme and promise Nigerians once again that we have the audacity of hope to put Nigeria on the path of prosperity and banish poverty in the country.
