The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has urged residents of South-east not to listen to former President, Olusegun Obasanjo and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on who they should vote for in 2023.

Mr Tinubu stated this during the APC presidential campaign rally in Enugu on Wednesday.

Messrs Obasanjo and Atiku served as president and vice-president of Nigeria respectively under the platform of PDP between 1999 and 2007.

Mr Atiku has been appealing to Nigerians including Igbos to vote for him as president in the 2023 presidential election.

The former vice president, in December during his rally in Anambra State, asked residents of South-east to vote for him, assuring that he would be “a stepping stone” to the emergence of Nigerian president from the region.

Mr Obasanjo, in an open letter to young Nigerians on 1 January, endorsed the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, as his preferred choice for president in the 2023 general election.

But Mr Tinubu told a crowd of Igbo during the rally not to believe the duo because they had “deceived” the region in the past.

“Don’t listen to them. Don’t believe them anymore. They have fooled you several times since 1999,” he said.

The APC candidate claimed that Mr Obasanjo and other successive presidents who governed the country under the platform of the PDP failed to build the Second Niger Bridge despite repeatedly promising to do so.

He claimed Messrs Obasanjo and Atiku were at some point abusing and accusing each other of siphoning funds while they were still in office.

“They didn’t do it (Second Niger Bridge) for 16 years. They ate your money, abused themselves,” Mr Tinubu said of the past presidents under the PDP platform.

“If you have forgotten, let me remind you: that bridge is completed by APC (government),” he stated.

The APC candidate suggested that some unnamed PDP members “deceived” Mr Obi to exit the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and join the PDP and later the LP to contest for president.

“They feel they want to vote Obi. They want to come back (to power). That’s how they deceived your brother when he left Okokorokoo and joined Labour (Party),” he said.

Okokorokoo is an Igbo expression for the crowning of a cock which announces a new day. The expression is often used by the APGA faithful.

A cock in a circled yellow background is the logo of the APGA.

The former governor of Lagos State appealed to the people to ditch other political parties and join forces with the APC to “use a broom to sweep away the dirty men and bloody foes” in the country.

‘Continue sweating, no praise until you deliver victory’

Mr Tinubu told leaders of the APC in the South-east that although they were “sweating and working hard” for the forthcoming election, he would like them to sustain the effort to achieve results.

“There will be no praise for anybody until the party wins the election, he said.

“I want you to sweat well for this party, until you deliver victory. Until Bola Tinubu became the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We will not give you but a slight clap or a soaked slice of bread,” the APC candidate said.

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