THE national leadership of All Progressives Congress, APC, has described as unacceptable a statement made by the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, about President Muhammadu Buhari.
Noting that the apology offered by Tinubu was not enough, the party said it may punish the presidential aspirant for the remark
National Chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, disclosed this, yesterday, in Abuja.
Adamu said: “He went as far as saying how Gen. Muhammadu Buhari went to him, citing instances of even prostrating in tears begging him to endorse him and to support him for the presidency. He claimed Buhari went to him.
“His utterances are very insulting. It is unbecoming for a person of that standing to do what he did to the sitting President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the President produced by the votes of the APC. Though he is the President, he belongs to everybody.
“It is amazing how a fellow APC person would make that kind of comment in that kind of circumstances about the President. We take exception to this. It has shown that he does not show any appreciable level of respect for the office of Mr. President.
“Therefore, we want to make it public that we are saddened by what we saw in the video, in that reportage and we condemn it in the strongest of terms. We do hope that he would never say that kind again.
“Yes, yesterday we saw some parts of a retraction but that effort is not adequate. It is not sincere. It is not in-depth enough. It doesn’t wipe off the impression the event has left in our minds.”
Threat
On whether there would be punitive measures against Tinubu, Adamu said: “At the time this event took place, the screening committee had not presented its report to us at all and that means no one was trying to suggest that anybody was under any threat. So there was no justification for the time this thing happened.
“This morning, we saw some traces of withdrawal of those statements. You see, these are statements that buttress his intention. Yes, we can’t deny not seeing it in the papers. It happened. He said he has the greatest respect for the President. You see, in Hausa, there is a proverb that once you take hold of any amount of grass from a thatched house and you pull it off from the roof, you can’t replace the same number of grass. What is out is out. What he did say was not an apology. It is just like trying to retract and you say I didn’t mean this. It is a problem of misinterpretation. It is not a regret.
“If there is a need to penalize any member of the party, not just Bola Tinubu, anybody, we will bring him to book as we watch events unfold”.
On the issue of statutory delegates, Adamu said the matter is still in court but that as of now, statutory delegates are excluded. Speaking on the reported disqualification of some aspirants, Adamu said: “I want to say very clearly that no aspirant has been disqualified. It is like sitting in an exam. Even if you pass, there is grading from first-class to ordinary pass. So, no aspirant was disqualified. Incidentally, the President has invited all of them to a dinner today (Saturday),” he added.
Personal opinion
However, National Vice Chairman of APC, Northwest, Salihu Moh. Lukman, in his reaction, disowned Adamu, saying he cannot impose his opinion on other members of the National Working Committee, NWC and pass it as the position of the party.
He said: “We all including Asiwaju himself acknowledged that it was unfortunate he made those statements and it is his right to express his frustrations. It should be recognized as such. But nobody, no matter the position of the person, can use it against him unless the party follows due process through the rightful organs of the party to discuss it.
“So, the opinion expressed by Abdullahi Adamu was his personal opinion and it is his right to present it to any organ of the party for consideration, but until that opinion is adopted by the relevant organ of the party, it cannot be considered as the position of the party. It is not the position of APC, it is his personal opinion”, he declared.
Defence
Meanwhile, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Special Duties, Mallam Ya’u Darazo, has risen in defence of Tinubu.
Darazo, who was present in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, where Tinubu addressed party faithful alongside the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, said the statement was taken out of context to embarrass Tinubu and create disaffection between him and President Buhari.
The Presidential aide, who said he wrote the statement in his capacity and as a member of the Tinubu Campaign Organization, said he was convinced that President Buhari can see through the mischief having been a victim of misrepresentation and character assassination in the past.
He noted that the motive of those promoting the narrative that Tinubu insulted Buhari was to destroy the warm relationship between them.
He said:”In the last 48 hours or so, the media space has been polluted by the odious breath of mischief-makers – nay ingrates who mispresented Asiwaju’s speech with the sole aim of planting discord between him and President Muhammadu Buhari. In their mischievous minds, that would earn them added advantage in the primaries for the ticket of the APC.
“I have a message for them. They have failed woefully. They should not take Nigerians for granted. Nigerians are wise enough. Let the mischief-makers note that good and purposeful leadership is not on the same page as mischief. It is good that Nigerians know them early enough. Their purpose of seeking leadership is not service driven.
PDP
“I was with Asiwaju in Abeokuta among other good people of Ogun State when he delivered the speech in question. It was in Yoruba language. It was later translated to me—which I found quite acceptable and politically relevant to the audience and even beyond. Truth is sacred. If the mischief-makers think that by mispresenting Asiwaju’s statement they will get the sympathy of the President. They have failed again—and failed woefully.
“President Buhari is not a stranger to the bashing of media mischief. He is a veteran. He passed through it. He suffered from it like no other leader in this country. When he sees media mischief, he would know it.”
Going down memory lane, Darazo recalled previous attempts to unfairly misrepresent Buhari and damage him politically.
He advised President Buhari not to be swayed by the antics of mischief-maker’s bent on undermining Tinubu’s ambition.
“They are very active members of the PDP and are opposing all that President Buhari stood for.
“These powerful elements are said to have recruited agents within the APC to do two projects for them. Ensure that APC produces a weak candidate that will give PDP a walkover. Secondly, to ensure APC produces a Northern candidate so that they will turn round and accuse the President as a Northern irredentist who denied shift of power to the South,” he explained.
Delegates
Tinubu, while addressing APC delegates in Ogun State, narrated how he was instrumental to President Buhari’s emergence as President in 2015.
He said if not for his support, Buhari wouldn’t have won the 2015 presidential election after contesting three times.
His words: “If not me that led the war front, Buhari would not have emerged. He contested first, second and third times, but lost. He even said on television that he would not contest again.
“But I went to his home in Katsina, I told him you would contest and win, but ‘you would not joke with Yoruba matters.“Since he has emerged, I have not been appointed minister. I didn’t get a contract.
“This time, it’s the Yoruba’s turn and in Yorubaland, it’s my tenure.
Governors
“Buhari wanted me to be his Vice President. He said because the first time he contested, he picked (Chuba) Okadigbo; flamboyant, catholic, but Nigerians didn’t vote for him (Buhari). The second time, he picked another Igbo, Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, Nigerians didn’t vote for him, that if he brought the Pope to run as his deputy, Nigerians would not vote for him, that ‘you, Bola Tinubu, you have six governors, you have never lost an election before, come and be my running mate.
“He knew all the calculations then favoured us. That was why he wanted me as his running mate, but I told him to let us build the party first. And when we finished building the party, we brought in people from the PDP. Saraki saw that those from the PDP would not get anything if Buhari, a Muslim becomes the President and me, also a Muslim becomes his deputy. He won’t become the Senate President and the Senate President could not also be a Muslim. That was how they started the campaign of calumny against me.
“And I told them that I had a candidate that is a Christan that I could nominate so that the party would not break. That was how I nominated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. I surrendered my right to him (Osinbajo).
“I was asked to submit three names, Yemi Cardozo, Wale Edun and Yemi Osinbajo, but I told them if I submitted three names, they would play a game. They may make it four and pick the fourth one. I gave them one name and that was Osinbajo.”
Speaking on why he is the best choice among other aspirants in the South-West, he said, “It is my time, I’m educated, I’m experienced. I have been serving you, people, for a long time, bring me the presidency, it is my turn.’’
“When Atiku was being flogged out of the PDP by Obasanjo, he ran to me for help. I let him have the ticket. Nuhu Ribadu came to me and I backed him.
“If not for me that stood behind Buhari, he wouldn’t have become the president. He tried the first time, he failed, the second time, he failed, the third, he failed. He even wept on national television and vowed never to contest again but I went to meet him in Kaduna and told him he would run again and I will stand by him and he will win, but he must not joke with the Yoruba and he agreed.”
