Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has boasted that even if the poll was postponed he would win next month’s election.
According to Asiwaju, “Even if they fail in logistics, and they change the date, we will vote; and we will win. It is an appointment with our destiny, and our being here today will not only make it seamless”.
Tinubu, who spoke at the weekend in Akure, Ondo, said he remained the candidate to beat, due to his achievements as a two-term governor of Lagos State. The APC flagbearer would be joining 17 other presidential candidates including Peter Obi, of the Labour Party, Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and NNPP’s Rabiu Kwankwaso in next month’s election.
Anxiety has continued to grow over fear that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) might postpone the February 25, presidential election. The fear was partly due to the continued attacks on INEC’s facilities by suspected arsonists and gunmen, most especially in the South, particularly the South-East region.
Recall that last month, data released by the electoral body revealed that the Commission recorded 50 attacks on its facilities across 15 States since 2019. In the data, the highest number of attacks on INEC facilities were recorded in Imo State, with 11 incidents, followed by Osun State with seven cases.
In a breakdown of the data, INEC said that it recorded eight attacks in 2022, twenty-two in 2020, twelve in 2021, and eight in 2021. Most of the incidents happened in Ogun, Osun, Lagos, Ondo, Bayelsa, Anambra, Imo, Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Enugu, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Borno, and Taraba States. Twenty of the attacks were described as arson; 26 as vandalism, while four were said to be both arson and vandalism. Notwithstanding, the electoral umpire has insisted that it would not postpone the election despite the security challenges and attack on its facilities.
