The Bola Ahmed Tinubu Support (BATS) group has been inaugurated by the Senator Magnus Abe-led faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State.
The group is formed to drive Tinubu’s presidential ambition in the next general elections.
Former Senator, Wilson Ake, who is the chairman of the group’s steering committee speaking at the event stated that;
“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; so we do not have that wicked spirit in us that is why we are saying we must pay back Tinubu what he has put in APC.
“We are not against anybody who wants to try. Anybody that wants to try should go ahead, but they should not use the question that they must eliminate Tinubu to succeed, it is not of God.” he insisted. “They went as far as starting #endsars in Lagos state by burning Tinubu’s hotel, his television house, his newspaper house when Tinubu is not in government. You can see that 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?
The Senator maintained that Tinubu is “eminently qualified” for the position and should not be disqualified on the ground of age. “Tinubu worked so hard for APC, and there are some persons who think that people should work and be dumped in the end, those that have the spirit of using and dumping need prayers. When Tinubu was working for APC, nobody thought about his age. He has finished working, now they are saying he is too old he should go and sit down. Let one young person come and take over, it does not work like that.”
The State Cordinator of the Group, Chief Tony Okocha, described Tinubu as a detribalized Nigeria. He said the mission of BATS in the state is to mobilize 50, 000 APC supporters in the state to support Tinubu for the position in 2023. Okocha recalled how during his (Tinubu) reign as governor, he appointed non-indigenes into his cabinet; created and funded development areas to drive development in the state.
He said:
”We know he has a Midas touch. We know he is competent. We know that he is experienced and we know that he is detribalized, so if we have a nationalist like that, why won’t we support him?”
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