The
national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu,
wednesday put to rest speculations that he might be picked by President
Muhammadu Buhari as his running mate in 2019, saying a report to that effect by
a national newspaper was false.
Tinubu said he and the people of the South-west “have absolute
confidence and are exceedingly proud of the excellent job Professor Yemi
Osinbajo is doing as Vice President of Nigeria.”
The paper in a front page lead story yesterday claimed that
Osinbajo was considering returning to full church work and that Tinubu was
being mooted as a replacement for him, according to the newspaper, “as a way to
have a solid South-west support for the APC, in the face of a
South-east/South-south alliance in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP).”
But
Tinubu in a statement by his Media Office in Lagos said there was no empirical
or logical basis for the speculative story.
His reaction read: “The attention of the Tinubu Media Office has
been drawn to the front page lead story of The SUN newspaper of December 13,
2017, which sensationally and ridiculously reported that President Buhari may
pick Tinubu as his running mate for the 2019 election. This is a classic case
of utterly and irredeemably fake news.
“There is no empirical or logical basis for this mischievously
speculative story. Is it even conceivable, as the story insinuates, that Vice
President Osinbajo would be considering returning to full church work rather
than run with his boss, President Buhari, for a second term if the latter so
decides without as much as discussing such a sensitive issue with his party and
with Tinubu? In any case, is this story not entirely unwarranted and indefensible
as the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket has an electoral mandate of four years out of
which it has spent only two and a half years?
“This is clearly an attempt to distract the APC federal
government from the yeoman’s job it has been doing in rescuing the country from
the deep rooted socio-economic, political, security and moral mess inherited
from the PDP’s 16 years misrule of Nigeria; instigate crisis within the party,
stoke dangerous embers of religious disaffection within the party and the
country generally and stem the remarkable progress being made in the
reinvention and revitalisation of Nigeria.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Tinubu has absolute confidence and
faith in both President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo who have been
working hard harmoniously in offering inspirational leadership to Nigeria at a
most critical period in her history. The hemorrhaging of the national economy
through the wanton and unprecedented corruption that obtained before the advent
of the APC federal government has been stanched.
“There is greater sanity, accountability and transparency in the
management of the country’s finances. The Boko Haram insurgency has been
substantially contained. We should not allow ourselves to be derailed from the
job we are effectively undertaking in fulfilling our campaign promises anchored
on the tripod of containing insecurity, taming the scourge of corruption and
resuscitating the economy.
“The Buhari and Osinbajo-led federal government is deftly
steering the country out of an economic recession that was the result of the
ineptness of the PDP years of the locusts. Tinubu will never support any
attempt to distract Buhari and Osinbajo from the job they are passionately
doing through the kind of false report carried by The SUN. In particular, this
story does great injustice to Vice President Osinbajo. Here is a man of the
highest integrity, moral rectitude, amazing humility, high intellect and
unimpeachable credibility. Here is a man of fierce loyalty and absolute
trustworthiness who will never do anything in word, thought or deed to
undermine his boss. His unquestionable dependability and indisputable fidelity
to his oath of office was demonstrated beyond question by his honourable
conduct during the president’s medical vacation.
Tinubu and the people of the South-west have absolute confidence
and are exceedingly proud of the excellent job Osinbajo is doing as Vice
President of Nigeria.
“Asiwaju takes serious exception to the insinuation in some
other quarters that there was ever any so-called frosty relationship between
Buhari and Tinubu. As Asiwaju had cause to point out recently, having been
elected President, Buhari had to be given the space to run his government.
There have always been and will always be channels of communication between
Tinubu and Buhari as members of the same party. Their interaction must not
necessarily always be conducted in the public space.”
He continued: “Contrary to the impression the Sun seeks to
create, Asiwaju’s politics is not that of unbridled personal ambition for
selfish interest. When at some point in the build up to the 2015 election,
President Buhari offered him the vice presidential ticket, Tinubu gratefully
and publicly thanked the president. When it turned out that such an offer would
not be in the interest of the party and would play into the hands of enemies of
change, Asiwaju unreservedly and passionately threw his support behind Osinbajo
as the best man for the job. His opinion has not changed. Indeed, his
confidence and belief in Osinbajo has been amply justified by the latter’s
sterling performance in the office. This attempt to cause disaffection between
the duo cannot and will not fly.
“As Asiwaju firmly asserted in a public statement on December
17, 2014 endorsing Professor Osinbajo for the position of running mate to
President Buhari
“After all the political calculations are made and the dust of competition has settled, it must be this nation and its people who stand first and foremost. The question becomes whether we stand strong, able to shape ourselves into our best future or will we stand frail and trembling, burdened by the abject failure to surmount the multiple problems confronting us…For me, political ambition will never triumph over patriotic conviction.
“After all the political calculations are made and the dust of competition has settled, it must be this nation and its people who stand first and foremost. The question becomes whether we stand strong, able to shape ourselves into our best future or will we stand frail and trembling, burdened by the abject failure to surmount the multiple problems confronting us…For me, political ambition will never triumph over patriotic conviction.
This delicate moment affords no space for emotion to intrude to
blind us from what is best. The APC is the best and only vehicle to enact the
progressive and broad change this nation cries for. I eagerly lend myself to
this fine cause without me having to be on the ticket. This is a time for
cohesion and an overriding sense of mission. We must defeat the foe before us
and resist all temptations intended to entice us to fight among ourselves. As
it was then so it remains today and on this patriotic and selfless commitment
Asiwaju stands unshakably.”
Feel Free To Comments Here...
No comments:
Post a Comment