Tinubu Promises to Reactivate Oil Exploration in Lake Chad

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, has promised to re-activate oil exploration in the Lake Chad Basin and also recharge the drying lake to generate jobs and boost agricultural production in the area.

The former Governor of Lagos State pledged yesterday in Maiduguri at the mega rally of the party.
Tinubu, in a statement issued yesterday by his Media Office and signed by Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, sympathised with those who are facing difficulties at the moment, saying ease would soon come their way.
He said: “Security is top on our agenda and Nigeria will see peace and stability. The Borno people and their neighbours will witness prosperity and happiness,” he said.

The APC presidential candidate paid tribute to his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, whom he acknowledged that he knows very well, saying the two of them share attributes that would be used to make Nigeria greater.

He said just like he did in Lagos, Shettima has also done the same in Borno by laying a good foundation and ensuring good leadership succession.
According to him, “Zulum is a symbol of continuity. Shettima is a representation of achievement,” he said.
In his address at the palace of the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Garbai Ibn El-Kanemi, the state governor, Prof Babagana Zulum, thanked Tinubu for picking a son of the state as his running mate.

He said: “You have done all for us and now it is for us to deliver APC in Borno State,” he said.
Zulum noted that Tinubu was more than a political ally for the state as he had shown concerns for the difficult times the state went through during the peak of the Boko Haram insurgency more than anyone else.

“During our trying time he has always been with us. He has visited us between seven and eight times in the last eleven years. There is nobody else that has done anything like that for us,” he added.
Speaking at the rally, Zulum charged the people of Borno State to troop out on Saturday, as they did for the rally, to show appreciation to Tinubu by casting their votes for him.

Taking turns to address the rally, former Borno State governors, Maina Ma’aji Lawal, Ali Modu Sheriff and Kashim Shettima, said Borno’s faith in APC has been strengthened with Shettima’s nomination as the vice presidential candidate of the party.

They assured Tinubu that the state would fulfil its part by giving overwhelming votes to him.
Governors Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa and Mai Mala Buni of Yobe state, challenged residents of Borno State not to allow any state to overtake them in giving the APC more votes given the party’s magnanimity to them.

The rally was attended by the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and other members of the National Working Committee of the party (NWC); Governors Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa) and Abubakar Bello (Niger).

Others were: Minister of State for Agriculture, Mustapha Shehuri; members of the National Assembly; former Chiefs of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd) and Lt. General Tukur Buratai (rtd), among other members of the party.