Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has urged Nigerians to wait till January 2022 for the National Leader of All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, to declare whether he will be running for president in 2023 or not.
He stated this on Channels Television’s ‘Hard Copy’ programme aired on Friday night, PUNCH reports.
Of recent, posters and billboards advertising the rumoured presidential bid of Tinubu, who was Lagos governor from May 1999 to May 2007, have been seen in major cities, including Lagos and Abuja.
- Tinubu backs Sanwo-Olu’s probe order on collapsed 21-storey building
- Zainab Aliyu, lady arrested in Saudi on framed-up drug offence joins NDLEA
Though Tinubu has yet to declare his intention to contest office in 2023, there have been reports and veiled indications that he might be interested in the exalted seat.
When asked whether he is interested in becoming the President of Nigeria, Fashola said, “It is a very tough responsibility, a very tough job; I don’t envy those who have held that office, and I don’t envy those who aspire to take it as well.”
Asked whether he is speaking for any aspirant come 2023, the minister said, “As far as I am aware, nobody has said, ‘I want to be Nigeria’s President’. People are speaking for people. Nobody has come out, and we are not at that stage yet.
“I can venture out and say that I will speak for X or Y. Let the person come out and say, ‘I want to serve Nigeria’.
“It pains me sometimes when we see that significant job and responsibility to, ‘My people said’. I think the whole sense of it should be that I am able, I have a look at myself, give me your problem, you go to sleep’.”
On whether he will support Tinubu’s rumoured 2023 presidential bid, the two-term ex-governor of Lagos said, “I saw him last week, he didn’t tell me he is running for office, and to the best of my knowledge, the last statement he made on it is that people will know in January.”
Fashola also said he had not asked Tinubu whether he is interested in the 2023 President or not. “No, I didn’t ask him. I just went to ask how he was doing. He has stated that ‘I will speak in January, so let us wait till January,” he said.
