I Have High Regard, Respect For President Buhari – Tinubu

I Have High Regard, Respect For President Buhari – Tinubu

Tinubu has said that he have high regard and respect for President Buhari.

As reported by The Nation, All Progressives Congress (APC) frontline presidential aspirant, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, said yesterday that contrary to the insinuations in some quarters, he did not denigrate President Muhammadu Buhari during a political meeting in Abeokuta on Thursday.

Tinubu, in a statement he personally signed, said that in pursuing his aspiration to be president of Nigeria “there are certain things I will not do and certain lines I shall not cross.”

“I shall never belittle myself by denigrating the President or his office. I dare not seek an office and disrespect it at the same time,” he said.

His statement was a follow up to a rebuttal issued earlier in the day by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign Organisation and a clarification by former Borno State governor, Senator Kashim Shettima.

Tinubu, in his statement entitled “I have high regard and respect for President Buhari” said it is even unthinkable that he would cast aspersion on the “leader of the party for which I hope to be the next flag bearer.”

“It makes no sense at all to do such an indelicate, unseemly thing,” he said, and explained that he was merely responding to “unwarranted attacks against my person that have been part of the campaign of others.”

The statement: “We have entered the meat of primary season. Sensationalism and wilful inaccuracy tend to push aside truth during such moments.

“I make this statement so that truth and accuracy may have a chance. It is important that people truly know what I said and where I stand. Whatever view you have of me is within your right to make. But let it be based on truth and not on falsehood or reckless exaggeration.

“There have been gross misinterpretations in some sections of the media regarding comments I made on Thursday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

“To a degree, the erroneous interpretations may be somewhat innocent, given that I spoke in Yoruba.

“Those who do not understand the nuances of this richly layered and subtly language may have inadvertently yet erroneously missed the true meaning of what I said while attempting to translate my statement.

“Instead of weighing what I said carefully, they translated so quickly and thus inaccurately in an attempt to meet media deadlines.

“Of course, there are also those who knew better but they conveyed these inaccuracies because the sensationalism suits their political purposes.

“Again, such propaganda and misinformation becomes daily fare in the heat of the political season. Let’s just state what needs to be stated.

“My opponents want to present a narrative that I made comments disrespectful of President Muhammadu Buhari in hopes that such a narrative would convince President Buhari to oppose my aspirations regarding the approaching primary.

“President Buhari is an experienced and accomplished leader. I do not believe he will be taken by the tricks of such people.

“Let me also erase any doubt. My respect and regard for President Buhari as Commander-in-Chief of this nation and as a person are high and unfailing. I shall never denigrate him. I certainly did not do so in Abeokuta.

“We have been political partners for a long time and I hope that partnership continues well into the future. I would do nothing to jeopardise it.

“I believe our party is the best hope for the nation to right itself. I believe I have a future role larger than the one I now have.  I also believe President Buhari has a continuing and important role to play even after his tenure as president is over.

“Indeed, I consistently supported the President and his administration. Even when the administration has come under intense criticism, my feet have always been planted solidly in defence of the President.

“The President personally nominated me to coordinate his re-election campaign in 2019. He did this not because I opposed him or because I was indifferent; he did so because I was firmly with him in 2015 and has stood firmly beside him ever since.

“When I publicly announced my aspiration to seek the party nomination for the upcoming presidential election, I stressed that my strategic objective was to build on the foundation laid by the Buhari administration.

“In fact, I believe I was the first aspirant to inform President Buhari of his presidential intention. It was a sign of the respect I have for him and his office.

“It is unthinkable that I would asperse the leader of the party for which I hope to be the next flag bearer. It makes no sense at all to do such an indelicate, unseemly thing.

“In Abeokuta, I spoke to the unwarranted attacks against my person that have been part of the campaign of others. I also recounted the history of the party for those whose memories need repair.

“There are many who had no role in the birth of the APC and in its many victories. Now that the party has climbed the political summit, they want to claim credit for something they had no part in.

“However, this cannot be said of President Buhari. I am proud of my role in the advent of the APC and its electoral successes. But President Buhari, of course, stands as the main driver of this success.

“He was elected president twice. He has borne the weight of national governance for seven years. Nothing can rival that. I would not dare belittle what he has done and what he has meant to the party and nation.

“President Buhari is a Nigerian patriot, a man of integrity. These qualities won him tremendous mass support leading to electoral victory in 2015 and 2019.

“I am proud to have been his partner in the political merger that became the APC and in making history by ousting an incumbent president for the first time in Nigeria.

“I make no apologies for seeking the party’s nomination. I believe I have something important to offer Nigeria that the other aspirants do not have, although I see them as good and committed Nigerians in their own right.

“While I want this office, there are certain things I will not do and certain lines I shall not cross. I shall never belittle myself by denigrating the president or his office. I dare not seek an office and disrespect it at the same time.

“My aspiration to be President of Nigeria is based on my want to serve the nation and not that I feel some personal entitlement to high office.

“Governance of this nation is a sacred and solemn duty. It is neither to be given as a favour to someone who is unqualified nor should people be motivated by personal reasons to prevent the most qualified person from attaining the office.

“The wellbeing of over 200 million souls is at stake. Let us all realise this and act accordingly, I only desire a level-playing ground for all aspirants and an adherence to stipulated rules and due process.

“If in the fairness of such a process, I do not emerge as the party’s candidate, I shall have no complaints regarding an honest primary and will accept the fair outcome as a true democrat.”

He was deliberately misrepresented, says campaign org

In a separate statement yesterday, the director of media, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr.Bayo Onanuga, said the Abeokuta statement was deliberately distorted by the opposition but stressed that the campaign organisation was not surprised by their action.

He said: “It is on record that the leading presidential aspirant in the forthcoming primaries of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, addressed the national delegates of the party in Ogun State, with Governor Dapo Abiodun in attendance.

“In his effort to convince the party delegates to vote for him at the primaries, he went down memory lane to provide specific instances when he brought his political clout and strategic skills to assist individuals, groups and tendencies in the party to gain political power.

“These factual references are already in the public realm.

“They have been reported and analysed in the media in the last eight years.

“They are, therefore, matters of public knowledge.

“While we recognise that recent unexpected interventions in the time table and the heat generated by the proximity of the event might have led to some anxiety, this campaign organisation believes that the main thrust of Asiwaju’s presentation was that his huge contributions to the formation and electoral success of the All Progressives Congress should count in his favour as a true party man who desires to be the flag bearer.

“There is also no doubt that the fresh conditions proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari for the consideration of a presidential candidate of the party made it necessary for Asiwaju to labour to convince the delegates that he fits the bill.

“The campaign was surprised at the way the opposition and Tinubu’s traducers had turned his statement to give an interpretation Tinubu did not mean and did not say.

“At no time did Tinubu play any ethnic card or denigrate any ethnic group. That is surely out of his character, as Engineer David Babachir Lawal, attested in his viral WhatsApp statement.

“Tinubu’s speech in Abeokuta did not demonstrate any disrespect to President Buhari, for whom he has a very high regard, and whose re-election campaign he chaired in 2019.

“Since the video of the speech he delivered in Yoruba hit the social media, varied interpretations have been given to the speech, which in the main was about Governor Abiodun, who in the true tradition of Yoruba culture bowed to his leader after Tinubu’s short speech.

“The Tinubu campaign is not surprised why the opposition in the APC have decided to turn and twist the statement.

“The former Lagos governor, a great party man remains the man to beat at the party’s convention on Monday.

“We are least surprised that he is the target of well-calculated and most unkind virulent attacks

“The campaign organisation hereby appeals to the media to avoid over-sensationalising issues of facts and play its constitutional role of informing the electorate to make informed choices at the presidential primaries.”

Tinubu is the only brand that can beat Atiku - Ex-Gov Shettima

Former Governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima, similarly rallied to the defence of Tinubu on the Abeokuta statement.

He said the remarks “were deliberately distorted” and Tinubu “quoted out of context.”

Shettima spoke on TVC.

He described the presidential aspirant as APC’s strongest brand that has what it takes to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) presidential flag bearer, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

“Asiwaju is the only candidate with pedigree and brand name to stand shoulder to shoulder with Atiku,” he said.

Continuing, the former governor said: “Any attempt to test any option might be catastrophic for APC. We have done our home work and by God’s grace, our candidate (Tinubu) will emerge in the next 72 hours.

“There is no other person in the north that can defeat Atiku except Tinubu. I believe the primaries will hold and Tinubu will emerge victorious.”

“I don’t know why Asiwaju has become a subject of hatred. There is nothing he said that hasn’t been said before.”

Shettima said Buhari’s input in the presidential primaries of the APC “is highly essential”.

He said: “We respect and adore him. But we believe at the end of the day, the President is a democrat and he will align himself with the aspirations of his party members.

“People are underrating the President a great deal and they are equally underrating the depth of his friendship with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. They have come a long way.

“The president is a man of honour who is being grossly underrated.

“The President Buhari I know sufficiently, if at all the president is going to endorse anyone, that person is going to be Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Forget about all the charlatans and distractions and political contractors.”

It’s time for North to reciprocate Tinubu’s gestures, group tells Buhari

A support group in All Progressives Congress (APC), Northern Progressive Agenda (NPA), says the ruling party and President Muhammadu Buhari should reciprocate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s past gestures by supporting him to fly the party’s flag in 2023.

Spokesperson for the group, Mr. Dominic Alancha, at a press conference in Abuja, listed Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and President Muhammadu Buhari among other northern political leaders that have benefited from political structures and support of Tinubu in the past.

It said northern political leaders, especially governors and delegates alike, should show good faith by ensuring that power shifts to the south, and described Tinubu as “not just the best among the contending forces from the southern region, he is the only man with the requisite political experience, extensive network and the national appeal to win election for a political party like the All Progressives Congress.”

OGSG: Governor Abiodun never issued any statement in response to Tinubu

The Ogun State Government last night clarified a tweet purported to be the response of Governor Dapo Abiodun to remarks made in Abeokuta by APC presidential aspirant, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Information and Strategy Commissioner Waheed Odusile said in a statement in Abeokuta that the tweet released yesterday morning “(https://twitter.com/dabiodunMFR/status/1532661227645804545?t=Xg0DJ-tFIf749cYZuLQ5Rw&s=19) was an extract to re emphasise the comments of Governor Abiodun to party faithful and appointees on May 29 during the celebration of his third year in office, which also coincided with his 62nd birthday.”

Odusile said the comments “could, therefore, not have been a response to comments by Asiwaju Tinubu whose visits to Abeokuta came five days later.”

He added: “While Governor Abiodun appreciates the media, including online platforms, as partners in progress with Government, he enjoins media practitioners to always report the truth at all times and refrain from giving vent to fake news, distortions and misinterpretations.”

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Eyo Nse is a creative writer, blogger and a software engineer.He is a simple individual who loves to see others succeed in life.Mr Wisdytech as he is popularly known - started blogging in the early 2000's.