2023: Vote leaders of your choice — Oyetola, CPS tells Nigerians

From: Femi  Oyelola, Kaduna

Nigerians have been urged to come out enmasse and vote for leaders of their choice in the 2023 general elections, just as they have been urged to vote for All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

The Chief Press Secretary to Osun state Governor, Ismail Omipidan, who stated this in Kaduna, said among the frontline presidential candidates that have been in government, Tinubu is the choice presidential candidate because he is competent, credible and the one that has consistently build people around him into leaders in various spheres of politics and governance.

Speaking in an interview with journalists, during the Alhaji Liadi Olapade Annual Memorial Lecture in honour of the former chairman of Ansar-ud-Deen Society Kaduna Branch where he was the chairman, Omipidan said, “Nigerians l have always complained of bad leaders, but some of us have also contributed to the situation by not coming out to vote. Let’s all come out en-mass to vote and vote for good leaders.

“Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is my preferred candidate and the reasons are obvious. Look at competence, look at credibility. Some people will say Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is old but we take after the United States in democracy and their leader is Joe Biden, if he is not too old to run the affairs of America, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is not too old to lead Nigeria. If you look at the track records of Asiwaju Tinubu and Sen. Kashim Shettima, they speak for them, look at Lagos, look at Borno, they are signposts of how a state should be properly run.

“So, if Tinubu and Shettima have done creditably well in the states they have been opportune to have governed, I believe very strongly that they will do well as our leaders in Nigeria. So, I encourage Nigerians to please vote Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his running mate, Sen. Kashim Shettima come February next year. All the front runners have had the opportunity to be in government at one point or the other. If you take a critical look at them, you will agree with me that only one person has been very consistent, only one person has an army of Nigerians that he has been able to mentor over the years.

“Peter Obi was Governor in Anambra for eight years, Asiwaju was Governor in Lagos for eight years, today in Nigeria if you talk about the Vice President, they will tell you he is from the Asiwaju school of politics, same with the immediate past Governor of Ekiti state, Kayode Fayemi, same with Minister of Interior, same with Ben Akabueze who is in the Debt Management Office and several others. Can you just tell me one such leader that any of the other presidential candidates have mentored?

“Again, since the return of democracy in 1999, only Asiwaju has been consistent in his choice of political party, all others have moved from one, two, three parties to another and consistency is very key in determining the success of anything in life. So, I urge Nigerians to queue behind the candidature of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and by the grace of God, they will take Nigeria to a greater height.”

Speaking at the event, the Osun CPS said, “this is our way of immortalizing late Alhaji Liadi Olapade, a chartered accountant per excellence, a community leader and a religious leader. He was the Chairman of Ansar-ud-Deen Society, Kaduna Branch, Chairman of Muslim Council of Nigeria in Kaduna and the leader of the Yoruba community all at the same time, he was also one time chairman of the Osun State Indigenes Association. He consistently showed that Islam is indeed a beautiful religion, by the way he related with people and by the way he conducted his affairs, both private and public. The memorial lecture is our own way of ensuring that his legacies live on”.

The Guest Speaker, Sheikh AbdulKabir Ibrahim AlMisry tasked Nigerians to live well and be good to people that they come across, so that they will leave good legacies that they will be remembered with. “We are responsible for our challenges. Sheikh AlSharawi said wherever we have a poor Muslim that means others have taken his share. If you can’t give money, help others, be generous with your behaviour, be jovial with people, smile to people. Despite all the surveillances that we have in Nigeria, it took nine years to discover that our crude oil was being siphoned. Look at the money we have lost!”

Chairman Ansar-ud-Deen Society Kaduna Branch, Alhaji Saburideen Adeyemi said the annual memorial lecture was to immortalize Alhaji Liadi Olapade and showcase his legacies to the world to enable the young ones and the elderly ones alike emulate one thing or the other from it.