A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abiola Oshodi, says the 2023 presidential election would be beyond ethnic affiliation.
Oshodi added that the election would be determined by all Nigerians through their votes and support.
Oshodi is the Vice Chairman of the APC in Canada,
In a telephone interview with NAN on Monday, Oshodi explained that the election would be won by the candidate that has a good and quality team that could explore the resources of the country for the benefits of its citizenry.
He decried the insinuation that the electorate from the northern part of the country might give their bulk votes for any presidential candidate from the region.
“I concede that the northern part of Nigeria has higher number of voters, compared to the southern part of Nigeria.
“That on its own does not guarantee victory. Remember that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is from the north and he has been contesting for the presidency without success since 1993 even before this current republic was birthed.
“President Muhammadu Buhari contested several times and failed when he relied on the northern votes for victory.
“And he only became successful through strategic alliance with others from the south, led by the team Tinubu. That alliance led to the birth of the APC in the build up to the 2015 national election and the rest is history,” he stated.
According to him, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate, has over the years built such strategic alliance with other parts of Nigeria.
He stated that Tinubu used that alliance to advantage during the APC presidential primary as the northern APC governors played very strategic role in his emergence.
Oshodi, a member of the APC Presidential Campaign Committee Sustainable Development for Nigeria Directorate, said that all the 24 APC governors are working for the success of Tinubu in the forthcoming election.
He asked the electorate to vote for candidate with good quality.
“It is about us as Nigerians, our children and what legacy we want to leave behind for the future generations.
“The election is beyond the north having more registered voters than the south and vice versa.
“The outcome will be largely determined by the quality of the candidates, the national spread and acceptability of the political parties whose ticket they are flying and the strategy that they use in mobilizing voters and supporters to the polls.
“On election day, come February 2023, all these factors will make Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu better than others,” he said.
