NATIONAL Leader of All Progressives Congress, APC,
and former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu,
yesterday, said Federal Government was planning to arrestleaders of his party ahead of Saturday’s election.
Declaring that he was ready for arrest, Tinubu, who spoke at
the 7th Annual Bola Tinubu Colloquium in Lagos to mark
his 63rd birthday, said the plot will not silence him.

Insisting that APC had a better ticket in Major-General
Muhammadu Buhari (retd) and Professor Yemi Osinbajo
than the President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President
Namadi Sambo team of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
Tinubu said despite the postponement of the polls by six weeks, President Jonathan will still lose the election.

According to him the postponement is “a stay of execution for Jonathan administration.”

The event was attended by a galaxy of APC leaders and
stalwarts, including National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun;
former Interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande;
former Governor of Ekiti and Osun states. Dr. Kayode
Fayemi and Segun Oni, respectively; wife of Ogun State Governor, Mrs Olufunsho Amosun; mother of the Vice
Presidential candidate, Mrs Bisi Osinbajo; Prof Pat Utomi
and Chief Lanre Rasaq.

Tinubu spoke as Governor Aregbesola accused President
Jonathan of starving governors of funds just as Governor
Fashola said the President lied on his achievements in the
last five years.

Buhari reacts Speaking at the event, Buhari said the seamless manner APC
merger was consummated and the pedigree and long-time
service of the leaders will yield electoral dividends for the
party.

He said: “This was possible because of their personal
service in their constituencies. They have served people so
much that they have developed so much confidence in them.

“Though there have been previous mergers but they never materialized. And the most interesting thing is that we looked at the opposition parties, and we realized that none of them can compete with PDP.

“And during the merger, some of the parties had court cases
that could delay the merger. So we constituted committees in each of the parties and they provided their terms of references. And I was told by Chief Bisi Akande that some
of the parties are demanding for certain positions. But I said
that the most important thing is that the merger must works.
And after that, we will sit down and decide on each demand.

“All my previous attempt to defeat PDP ended up at the
Supreme Court. But with this merger, we have done the
right job. With the merger, we are witnessing progresses
and come Saturday, we will succeed at the polls by God’s
grace.”

Why I can’t pay salaries –

Aregbesola

Aregbesola attributed his delay in the payment of five
months’ salary arrears to Osun civil servants to “the economic strategy adopted by President Jonathan to shrink the monthly revenue of the state.”

Aregbesola lamented that the economic policy of the Federal
Government had forced the state to take a loan of N12
billion from banks.

His words: “The reason for indicting the President was that when I assumed office in 2010, I met a state with an income of N2.1 billion and with a wage bill of N1.1 billion.

“Outside Lagos, Osun State is the next state with large
number of civil servants under the state employ. By 2012
January, my wage bill jumped to N3.6 billion and at this
time, the revenue of the state had increased to N4.6 billion.

Central government “And do not forget that the state inherited 50 percent of the entire civil servants in the old Western states. But by July of 2013, the apex government announced an unusual decline in allocation to the state which was about 40 percent. So from
N4.6 billion with which I could meet the wage need of the
workers, the revenue of the state from the central
government was reduced to N2.6 billion.

“Since then, the highest monthly allocation received by the government was in November 2013 and it was N3 billion.

And since then, Osun State had to augment salaries.

Sometimes, N600 million, N1 billion and N1.6 billion.”

On his part, Fashola said President Jonathan lied over the achievements recorded by his administration since 2011,
when he was sworn-in.

He said: “As I was reading the newspaper this morning, I
saw an advert published by President Goodluck Jonathan,
where he listed as part of his achievements the ongoing
construction of the Adiyan Phase 11 water works and the
N40 billion loan for education, which the central government
underwrote for Lagos State through the EKO project.

“The president claimed that they have fixed the Airport Road and built Primary Health care Centres in Lagos State. Those who use the PHC know the people you see there. There are many other things that were also said in the advertorial. That advert is a lie.

Lagos State government under my administration is the one
building the waterworks. If the President wants to lie in
order to win election, it is a very low point for the presidential election.”