Read Excerpts Of Bola Tinubu's Interview On AlJazeera

Nigeria’s political landscape has changed. It will change forever and
change for good. The scale and balance of power is tilting and
changing to the opposition. We are moving from imperialism to
proper democracy.
This development will start reshaping the landscape of politics in this
country forever.
Not for us only but for the generation unborn. And the future of this
country to take its position as a leader in Africa. And not just a well
populated country that is big and directionless.
Nigeria has tried in the past to achieve stable democracy. Like other
African countries, we have had our share of military rule and a bit of
democratic rule. But we are blessed with human and material
resources which have not been harnessed for the welfare of the mass
of the people in this country. The sophistication, the honesty, trust,
transparency necessary in electoral process have been absent in this
country. The balance of power is tilted in favour of the incumbency.
Nigerians have never seen a group that will have a common focus.
Put patriotism as the cornerstone of their guiding principle.
This is a party that will put people at the forefront of their cause in
participating in politics. Never has there been a group that will focus
on the welfare of the Nigerian citizenry and fight corruption and waste
in governance. There are many areas that this new APC alliance and
effort will unveil. We will ensure that we have credibility in the voting
system, the character, commitment of our people – the value that you
want to pass the torch to the coming generation on democracy. It is
very important that we are able to do that. Otherwise, it will turn out
that election after election, confidence in the electoral process will
drop and we don’t want that to happen. For us, it’s a new beginning.
It’s a new hope. It’s a new commitment.
The perception alone of having so many governors working together in
one party and platform will encourage people to share ideas, share
values and encourage them to put their confidence in the electoral
system to change the process and make sure one man, one woman ,
one vote should be the order of the day. I think the equilibrium that is
shifting will rekindle the expectation of the observing world that
opposition is not only existing on paper but that it is physically
present in Nigeria and that they are working hard to gain power in an
honest and peaceful manner. It will strengthen the confidence of other
democratic observers around the world.
Nigeria in responding to this development must realise that help is
here. Hope is here. That we will represent them effective to engender
true democracy in the country. That their vote will count. That the
nation will be represented by the leadership that can be trusted. And
if we trust our leaders and encourage them for not breaking promises,
they we will develop faster, and we have honesty and transparency in
governance, we will eliminate mediocrity - we will be able to focus on
developing our country.
This is a blessed nation with human and material resources and we
should be able to harness these resources for the greatest interest
and number of our people. They believe in one power mandate of a
particular political party has systematically encouraged corruption,
lack of care, lack of focus on the primary things that will develop this
country. Nigeria is a talented country. Nigeria is a well educated
nation, well endowed country- but we keep missing the bull’s eye in
the critical path to a democratic success. Unless you have that, you
cannot have meaningful development and be competitive around the
world.
Help is here. It is now. The change we desire will occur.