Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu on Monday called on his opponent in the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, to step down from the race and endorse him.
Tinubu spoke at an interactive session with the Arewa Joint Committee which was held at the Arewa House, Kaduna.
He threw a jibe at Atiku for playing the ethnic card over the weekend in the state.
“You (Atiku) started from Uyo and now ended up in Kaduna and you are speaking to the north that you are the right candidate for the north. How do we reconcile that? You have lost the election,” said Tinubu.
The APC leader noted further that Atiku ought to have endorsed him because he (Tinubu) supported him in 2007 in the race for the Presidency.
“It’s payback time. Let Atiku endorse me instead of campaigning in Kaduna. I supported him in 2007,” said Tinubu.
The former Lagos governor told the gathering that comprised the Arewa Consultative Forum, Northern Elders Forum, Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, Jamiyyar Matan Arewa, the Center for Historical Development Research (Arewa House) as well as the Arewa Research and Documentation Project, that he was also one of them.
“I am one of you. Yes, I am a city boy from Lagos,” he said.
Tinubu said under his government, the rag-tag bandits terrorising the region would cease to exist, noting, “a rag-tag bandit will not defeat us. We will defeat them.”
Speaking further, Tinubu said if elected as president, he would mobilise all assets within “our national power” to secure Nigeria.