If presidential election was postponed, I’ll still win; it’s my appointment with destiny: Tinubu

Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has boasted that he would win next month’s election, if the poll was postponed. 

“Even if they fail in logistics, and they change the date, we will vote, and we will win. It is an appointment with our destiny and our here today will not only but make it seamless,” Mr Tinubu said. 

Mr Tinubu, who spoke at the weekend in Akure, Ondo, said he remained the candidate to beat, due to his achievements as a two-term governor of Lagos. 

The APC flagbearer would be joining 17 other presidential candidates including Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and NNPP’s Rabiu Kwankwaso in next month’s election.

Anxiety has continued to grow over fear that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) might postpone the February 25, presidential election. 

The fear was partly buoyed by continued attacks on INEC’s facilities by suspected arsonists and gunmen, most especially in the South and South-East. 

Last year December, data released by the electoral body revealed that the commission recorded 50 attacks on its facilities across 15 states since 2019. 

In the data, the highest number of attacks on INEC facilities were recorded in Imo State, with 11 incidents, followed by Osun State with seven cases. 

In a breakdown of the data, INEC said that it recorded 8 attacks in 2022, 22 in 2020, 12 in 2021, and 8 in 2021. 

Most of the incidents happened in Ogun, Osun, Lagos, Ondo, Bayelsa, Anambra, Imo, Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Enugu, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Borno, and Taraba states.

Twenty of the attacks were described as arson, 26 as vandalism, while four were said to be both arson and vandalism.

Notwithstanding, the electoral umpire has insisted that it would not postpone the election despite the security challenges and attack on its facilities. 

INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, vowed in November last year that never again would elections be postponed at the eleventh hour due to “logistic challenges”. 

“We are determined that never again should elections be postponed at the eleventh hour on account of logistics,” Mr Yakubu said at the inauguration of the Electoral Logistics Committee (ELoC) for the 2023 polls.