Tinubu did not insult President Buhari; he simply stated facts
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| Bola Ahmed Tinubu |
Tinubu did not insult President Buhari; he simply stated facts
The campaign organization for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the former Lagos State governor running for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket, claims Tinubu's remarks in Ogun were not meant to offend President Muhammadu Buhari.
Tinubu told APC delegates in Ogun state on Thursday that Buhari could not have won the presidential election in 2015 without him.
"If I hadn't led the battlefront, Buhari would not have won." He ran for the first, second, and third times but lost all three times. "He even announced on television that he will not run again," Tinubu remarked.
"However, I went to his house in Katsina." I told him, "You will compete and win, but you will not make light of the Yoruba issue." I have not been appointed minister since his election. I did not receive a contract. It's Yoruba's turn this time, and it's my turn in Yorubaland."
Nigerians have responded in a variety of ways to the remark regarding the circumstances behind the 2015 decisions.
In a statement made on Friday by Bayo Onanuga, the organization's spokesman, the former governor was only attempting to persuade the delegates on why he is the ideal aspirant.
The statement states, "The attention of the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Presidential Campaign Organisation has been attracted to the erroneous, deceptive, and mischievous interpretation of his address in Abeokuta, capital of Ogun State, on Thursday."
"It is on record that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the leading presidential aspirant in the forthcoming All Progressives Congress primaries, addressed the party's national delegates in Ogun State, with Governor Mr. Dapo Abiodun in attendance."
"In an effort to persuade party delegates to vote for him in the primaries, he traveled down memory lane to present specific examples of when he used his political clout and strategic talents to help individuals, groups, and movements in the party attain political power."
"These factual sources are already out there." In the last eight years, they have been reported and analyzed in the media. As a result, they are public information.
"While we acknowledge that recent unexpected changes in the schedule and the heat generated by the event's proximity may have caused some anxiety, this campaign organization believes that the main thrust of Asiwaju's presentation was that his enormous contributions to the formation and electoral success of the All Progressives Congress should count in his favor as a true party man who desires to be the flagbearer."
"There is also no doubt that the new conditions established by President Muhammadu Buhari for the consideration of a presidential candidate of the party required Asiwaju to work hard to persuade the delegates that he fits the bill."
"The campaign was taken aback by how the opposition and Tinubu's interpreters twisted his statement to provide a meaning Tinubu did not mean and did not utter."
"At no point did Tinubu use an ethnic card or disparage any ethnic community." That is unlike of him, as Engineer David Babachir Lawal acknowledged in his viral WhatsApp statement.
"Tinubu's address in Abeokuta was not disrespectful to President Buhari, whom he holds in high regard and whose re-election campaign he led in 2019."
Tinubu, who spoke in Yoruba on Thursday, also stated that Dapo Abiodun could not have won the Ogun governorship race in 2019.
The campaign organization, on the other hand, accused the "opposition" of "contorting" Tinubu's words, adding that Tinubu was misunderstood.
"Since the video of his Yoruba address went viral on social media, several interpretations have been attributed to the speech, which in the main was about Governor Abiodun, who bowed to his leader following Tinubu's short speech," the statement adds.
"The Tinubu campaign is not shocked that the APC opposition has decided to twist and distort the remark." The former Lagos governor remains the man to beat in the party's convention on Monday.
"We are not shocked that he is the victim of well-planned and aggressive attacks."
"The campaign organization hereby appeals to the media to refrain from sensationalizing facts and to fulfill its constitutional function of informing the electorate in order for them to make informed choices in the presidential primary."
