2023 Presidency: Faleke, Babachir Lawal, TSG Pick Tinubu’s N100m Forms

BY VICTOR BUORO – The counsel by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that Nigerians should not trust or vote for presidential aspirants lying about other people buying nomination forms for them may have made the needed impact as the Tinubu Support Groups (TSG) declared on Friday that their principal paid for his Expression of Interest and Nomination forms directly and only requested that they pick them up for him.

Led by the House of Representatives lawmaker representing Ikeja Federal constituency, James Faleke and a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Babachir Lawal, the TSG members had stormed Abuja to pick the princely N100 million forms for the All Progressives Congress (APC)National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu

In their thousands, the TSG members were at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja venue for the forms’ sale where Faleke told journalists that the former Lagos State governor bought the forms from his hard-earned personal funds.

According to him; “We are here as a team on behalf of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to pick up the forms that he has personally paid for and because he is out of the country, he paid for his forms directly and asked us to come and pick up the forms.”

The lawmaker, who spoke on behalf of TSG, which is an umbrella organization for hundreds of groups working to actualize Asiwaju Tinubu’s presidential ambition, also boasted that their principal is the man to beat in the forthcoming APC presidential primaries contest.

Further amplifying their aspirant’s bragging rights, Faleke said; “He is the only contestant that we know. Asiwaju at the appropriate time will deliver his address to us but I know that this country under Tinubu will be better off, the economy will be better off because he is an economist, he is not a lawyer, he is an economist.

“He will deal with the economic situation of this country. He did it in Lagos, and the security challenges in Lagos were solved by him, he will solve the same security challenges. He is a man who rewards loyalty and ensures that people who work are also taken care of.

“He will ensure that employment opportunities are better off, the issue of strikes will be a thing of the past. Civil service reform was done in Lagos, he will do it again in Nigeria, and so on and so forth.”

Addressing journalists’ inquiries on the Party’s mode of primaries, the federal legislator said there is no cause for alarm as the Tinubu camp is adequately prepared for any eventuality no matter what method the party leadership decides to adopt for the exercise.

“It is the party that has the authority to advocate for the mode of primaries. It is not in our purview to do that. Whatever mode, direct or indirect, we will win the election by the grace of God”, he assured

Also speaking in glowing terms about the APC National Leader, the former SGF, Babachir Lawal, who was sacked from office for impropriety, said “Senator Bola Tinubu is a branded product. Every Nigerian knows that he is the man to beat and I can assure you that the presidency of Nigeria come 29th May 2023 will go to Tinubu.

“If we were not sure we have chances to win this election, we would not waste our N100 million. Everybody is free to buy the forms if he has N100 million. The choice is his own. He has the money.”

Raising the TSG’s bragging rights, the former SGF, said; “But as far as we are concerned, we are only fulfilling the constitutional requirement of campaigning and going for election. We don’t foresee any opposition in the contest. We are not worried in our camp, I am not worried as a person.”