The presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has described his challenger on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, as “a smuggler”, saying the former Vice President is not qualified to be Nigeria’s President.

Tinubu said Atiku indicted himself on his record as a civil servant.

He said this at the APC presidential campaign rally held the University of Benin Sports Complex, Ugbowo Campus, Benin, the Edo State capital on Thursday.

The APC presidential candidate stated that Atiku and his then principal, Olusegun Obasanjo, were accusing each other of spending the country’s money for their personal comfort.

“Atiku and Obasanjo accused themselves of using Nigeria’s money to buy cars for their comfort. Atiku was a custom officer who said he made money selling cars; that is smugling.

“He didn’t even know that a civil servant cannot do any other business apart from agriculture. That is enough to disqualify him and he is not fit to be president,” Tinubu said.

Tinubu promised to eliminate darkness and make the economy of the country productive through massive industrialisation, vowing to make Edo State a hub of industrial activities and an energy state.

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He said his administration would focus on job creation through small scale industries, build a credible credit system for capital formation, bring multibillion dollar investments to Edo State, and end estimated electricity billing if elected as president in the 2023 general election.

“I will turn Edo State to energy State. I will convert Yahoo boys and make them useful by converting their talents and intellects to produce chips for industries.

“We can defeat poverty, ignorance and homelessness. We have the knowledge, we have the brain to do it.

“Trust me; I am an expert in finding the way where there is no way. I found a way to tame the Atlantic and turn it to money-making machine,” he stated.

Also speaking at the rally, the former governor of Edo State and Deputy Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Adams Oshiomhole, said the people of the state would use their PVCs to appreciate Tinubu as “a father of multi-party democracy in Nigeria”.

“If you want to understand why Obasanjo failed to turn Nigeria into a one-party state, it was the resistance of Asiwaju and others.

“Obasanjo also wanted to take over Lagos. Asiwaju said you can’t do it. If you are a military general, I am a general of politics. He fought him to a standstill,” Oshiomhole said.

The former governor also threw jibes at presidential candidates of Labour Party, Peter Obi, and that of PDP, Atiku Abubakar, urging the people of Edo State to reject them.

“Peter Obi is a joke,” he said, adding that Obi could not address the erosion problem in Anambra State as a governor.

Oshiomhole also said Atiku cannot unite Nigeria, saying: “Someone who cannot unite his house, how can he unite Nigeria?”

Others at the rally were Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje; former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio; and former Chief of Defence Staff, General Olanisakin, amongst others.

The Star