Politics

Tinubu Opens Up, Says Without me, Buhari, Osinbajo Wouldn’t Have Emerged President, Vice

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All Progresives Congress (APC) national leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has recalled his part in President Muhammadu Buhari’s election victory in 2015, claiming that the Katsina-born president would have lost the election if not for his efforts.

Tinubu made the remark while speaking to party delegates at the Presidential Lodge in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Thursday.

He was accompanied by the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; the Kano State Governor, Umar Ganduje and former Borno State Governor, Kasim Shettima.

“If not for me that stood behind Buhari, he wouldn’t have become the President. He tried the first time, but he failed. The second time, he failed. The third, he failed,” Tinubu, one of the frontline aspirants for the APC presidential ticket, told the delegates.

“He even wept on national television and vowed never to contest again but I went to meet him in Kaduna and told him he will run again, I will stand by you and you will win, but you must not joke with Yorubas and he agreed.”

The former governor of Lagos State said since Buhari became President, he has not benefited anything from him.

“Since he became the President, I have never gotten ministerial slots,” he said. “I didn’t collect any contract, Neither did I beg him for soup or garri. I have never begged for anything from him. It is the turn of Yoruba. And if it is the turn of the Yoruba, I am the most capable. It is my turn.”

In addition, Tinubu disclosed that he was instrumental to Osinbajo’e emergence as Vice President; even as he boasted that the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun could not have secured the position without him.

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“This one sitting behind me here, could not have become governor without me? We were at the stadium, they tore all his posters. Even the party flag, they didn’t want to hand over it to him, I was the one who brought it.

“If he wants to meet God at the right place, he must know that he would not have become governor without God and me.”

Further, he revealed how Buhari wanted him to be Vice President, but he had insisted on his ambition for the Presidency.

“Buhari wanted me to be his Vice President. He said because the first time he contested, he picked Chuba Okadigbo; a flamboyant, catholic, but Nigerians didn’t vote for him. 

”The second time, he picked another Igbo, Edwin Ume-Ezeoke. Nigerians didn’t vote for him. He said that if he brought the Pope to run as his deputy, Nigerians would not vote for him. He said, ‘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. 

”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.

“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.

“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.”

Meanwhile, Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River says it is the turn of Southern Nigeria to produce the country’s next president in 2023 after the expiration of the eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari in office.

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According to a statement by Mr Bayo Onanuga, Director, Media and Communication Tinubu Campaign Organisation on Wednesday, June 1, in Abuja; Ayade said this when Sen. Bola Tinubu visited him at the Government House in Calabar.

Tinubu, a former two-term Governor of Lagos State and one of the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is a leading presidential aspirant of the party.

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Ayade explained that the idea of zoning came about to ensure an egalitarian and equitable power-sharing in the country.

“Zoning is a provision of our Constitution to ensure balancing. It should not be about ethnic or regional domination, but balancing. It’s the turn of Southern Nigeria in 2023,” he said.

The governor added that the country was in dire need of change and a new way of doing things.

He noted that with Nigeria’s potential as number seven in the world in terms of oil and gas deposit; it was regrettable that the country was still importing petrol to meet its local demand.

He described Tinubu as a trans-generational leader and political strategist; adding that he had the capacity, experience, and exposure to lead and was more than qualified to be Nigeria’s president.

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