Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming presidential elections, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has promised to re-purpose and rehabilitate advance fee fraudsters, otherwise known as “Yahoo Yahoo boys,” by creating technological hubs for them, if elected in next month’s poll.
He stated this during his campaign rally in Benin, the Edo State capital, on Thursday.
Tinubu, who flew into the ancient city from Kano which his campaign train visited on Wednesday, urged a huge crowd of supporters at the University of Benin Sports Complex, Ugbowo, to vote for him, if they wanted their lives to be transformed for good.
The former Lagos State governor also backed the ongoing campaign for the return of stolen Benin artefacts, as well as compensation to the Benin Kingdom by European nations which citizens engaged in the pillaging of the valuable Benin works of art in the late 19th Century.
In addition, the APC presidential flagbearer criticized former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the forthcoming presidential polls, Atiku Abubakar, accusing them of focusing on their “personal comforts”, instead of developing the country when they were in power between 1999 and 2007.
Tinubu faulted Obasanjo’s endorsement of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, saying he (Obi) “could not tackle erosion menace” in the Southeast state of Anambra where he (Obi) served as governor for eight years.
Describing himself as a knowledgeable man, the APC candidate said industrial and technology hubs would be created to make the youths, especially those engaged in criminal advance fee fraud activities on the Internet, become instruments for development.
His words: ”I will convert Yahoo boys and make them useful by converting their talents and intellects to produce chips for industries. We can defeat poverty, ignorance and homelessness. We have the knowledge, we have the brain to do it. Trust me. I am an expert in finding the way where there is no way. I found a way to tame the Atlantic in Lagos and turn it into money- making machine.
“Sociologically, we can make mountains, we can climb Kilimanjaro, we can defeat poverty. We will break the shackle of poverty, ignorance and homelessness.”
Tinubu accused the Obasanjo and the immediate past PDP government at the federal level of failing to provide electricity for Nigerians “to make even popcorn “ after spending $16 billion on the power sector.
He said: “I brought Enron to solve electricity problem and help Lagos economy, but Obasanjo and PDP frustrated it. They punished me and Lagos people and even began deducting our money.
“I created local governments in Lagos to accelerate development and create employment for our people, but Obasanjo seized our allocation and punished us for that. That was wickedness and such a man said he endorsed a man for you to vote as president.
“Can you follow such a man? Can Obasanjo recommend a leader to anyone in Nigeria? A man who does not know the way cannot show the way.”
The APC standard bearer, who also said that Atiku was unfit to be president, accused Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki and his allies of ordering the removal of his billboards.
He said: “Show me a better job that Atiku did before. You cannot find it. He is not the smartest Customs officer. A customs officer, who cannot define the ethics of the civil service. A civil servant, who said selling cars is where he made his money, but does not know that the only thing that civil servants can do is agriculture, not dealing in or smuggling cars. That is a disqualification. He (Atiku) is not fit to be president.”
On the returned artefacts, Tinubu said: “Edo people, prosperity has come, happiness has come, hope is back in your homes, knowledge is back in your community. I am happy about the returned artefacts. They are bringing our artefacts. I support the Oba of Benin who said our heritage must come back, and I disagree with the Europeans.
“They have used our artefacts for exhibitions and tourism for decades in their museums to make money. They should not just send them back without money. When I become President, I will ask them to pay us restitution. I will contribute to the building of the museum in Benin.”
Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, who was also present at the Benin Rally, hailed the crowd present at the Sports Centre and assured that the 19 Northern states would vote massively for Tinubu.
A former National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, who was also present at the rally, described Tinubu as a president-in-waiting, who believes in the unity of Nigeria.