As Nigeria counts down to the 2023 presidential election, former Senate President and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, Bukola Saraki has reminded delegates of his party how he tamed the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to become the Senate President in 2015.
Saraki spoke while appealing to the PDP delegates in Lagos to back his move to clinch the party’s presidential ticket and said that he remained their own as a person that defeated the “Emperor of Bourdillon” who vowed that he would never become the senate president.
It should be recalled that Saraki, who was a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) then, became the Senate President in 2015 against the preferred candidate of the party and its National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
While speaking during the meeting with the delegates, Saraki promised the party delegates that if he emerge as the PDP flag bearer he would help in reclaiming Lagos State for the PDP in 2023.
According to him, due to the reconciliatory effort he championed, PDP was able to unite in Lagos and many other states including Plateau, Ogun and Oyo.
Also, he said the effort by the executive to impeach him as Senate President failed because he was a team player and his fellow Senators had confidence in him.
He said, “And you all know that I was the last person that defeated your Emperor of Bourdillon who said that I would not be Senate President but I said ”No. I would be Senate President’.
“And you know that I would ensure and fight and God’s willing in 2023, PDP would take Lagos State. We will take Lagos State. We started that effort with the issue of reconciliation.”
While talking about the current state of the nation, Saraki disclosed that Nigeria is inching toward a failed state and requires a President that has what it takes to redirect the country on a path of growth and unity.
He said: “Today in Nigeria we all see where this country is. We have never seen this level of disunity in the entire history of this country even during the difficult time of the Civil War. The level of insecurity today is frightening. Today as a country we are inching towards a failed state.
“A failing state is defined when the authority of the state no longer has a monopoly upon violence. Today, there are parts of the state we just can’t go to. It was not like that eight years ago. Today, the level of banditry…we are the World Capital for kidnapping, we are the World Capital for Poverty, youth unemployment.
“This is not the Nigeria we all dreamt of. So this time, we want a President that can do the job and we must ask ourselves what kind of President is that? I believe the President we have now is the President that can unite this country because, without unity, you cannot have progress.
“To unite this country, you must be somebody that everybody will feel comfortable with and say yes that is the Nigerian for all Nigerians. I believe that I can be and I am best to be that bridge between the North and the South of Nigeria.”
