Former and current speakers of state Houses of Assembly in the southwest have met in Ibadan, Oyo state capital to drum up support for APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s presidential bid in 2023. The meeting held at Carlton Gate Xclusive hotel, Ibadan. In attendance were 20 current and past speakers of states in the southwest. Mudashiru Obasa, Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly convened the meeting. He started it by seizing the opportunity to formally introduce Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) Foundation and Movement to the gathering. BAT Foundation, according to him was meant to break the shackles of poverty and create a coordinated humanitarian image for Tinubu. Obasa stated that though the APC leader has not given the go-ahead to kick start any interest in the presidency but that there is the need to deliberate on the issue on his behalf.
According to Obasa, all current and former speakers present should after the meeting go back to their respective states to set up the template that would see to the actualisation of the agenda of a Tinubu presidency in 2023. An address by Ambassador Aliyu Saulawa, national coordinator of BAT Movement was emphatic in its readiness to ensure power shift to the southwest and clinched by Tinubu. He lauded Tinubu’s option of supporting President Muhammadu Buhari rather than former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who would have done anything for Tinubu, to win his support. Resolutions at the meeting include: “That power must shift to the south and that the southwest must produce the next president; That Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, being a Yoruba man with the capacity, experience and means should be the candidate to be supported to emerge as the next president of Nigeria; That Asiwaju Tinubu still needs to do more networking in Yoruba land, especially amongst serving and past governors so that voices of dissent can be reduced to the barest minimum; That all stakeholders present should go back home and start the Asiwaju Tinubu presidential project pending when he will come out public to agree to contest and that all speakers present must commence beneficial political interaction with traditional rulers across the southwest.”