Abeokuta Speech: Confusion Over Plot To Punish Tinubu

Confusion was at the weekend shadowing reports of a plan to punish All Progressives Congress, APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu over his outburst at President Muhammadu Buhari in Abeokuta last Thursday.

The confusion GreenWhiteGreen GWG reports came after Malam Ya’u Darazo, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Special Duties, called on Nigerians to ignore recent negative reports in the media he said were targeting Tinubu.

The APC national chairman had on Saturday debunked the utterance by Tinubu in which he said that he made Buhari president, Yemi Osinbajo vice president and Mr Dapo Abiodun governor of Ogun State.

He said that Tinubu would be punished for disrespecting the office of president.

Darazo made the call in a statement on Saturday in Abuja as a supporter of the presidential ambition of Tinubu, pleading that APC members should ignore the reports.

Tinubu, a two-term Lagos State governor, is a frontline presidential aspirant of the APC and one of the party’s national leaders.

Darazo described the negative report as a malicious attempt by Tinubu’s opponents to misrepresent what he told party leaders and delegates in Abeokuta, Ogun recently.

He noted that the distortion of what the frontline presidential aspirant said was a dubious attempt to cause discord between him and President Muhammadu Buhari.

The senior presidential aide, however, said he was speaking for himself as a member of the team working for Tinubu’s campaign.

“Let me start with a disclaimer.  I am issuing this statement in my personal capacity, this is very important before mischief makers start attributing it to some other persons.

“For the avoidance of doubts, I am a supporter of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.  I, therefore, belong to the team assiduously working for Asiwaju’s 2023 Presidential Project and on this mandate I stand.

“While addressing party delegates and supporters in Abeokuta, Tinubu recalled his contributions to the formation of APC.

“He also recalled how his support made it possible for Buhari to be elected president in 2015 having lost in three previous attempts in 2003, 2007 and 2011.

“Tinubu’s address which was made in Yoruba was taken out of context by opponents and mischief makers to damage his standing with the president,” Darazo said.

He noted that President Buhari could, however, see through the mischief, having being a victim of mis-representation himself in the past.

He stressed that no ill-motivated plot could destroy the relationship between Buhari and Tinubu,” Darazo said in a stance that is bound to put confusion to the alleged plots to punish the APC presidential aspirant.

Darazo noted that in the last 48 hours the media space had been filled by reports planted by mischief makers.

He said they had misrepresented Tinubu’s speech with the sole aim of planting discord between him and Buhari to earn added advantage in the primaries for the APC presidential ticket.

“I have a message for them, they have failed woefully, they should not take Nigerians for granted.

“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; certainly, like this one against Asiwaju,” Darazo stressed.

He made a flashback how Buhari had been unfairly mis- represented in the past just to damage him politically before he became president in 2015.

Darazo noted further that Buhari was presented to Nigerians as a religious bigot when he addressed a Muslim event in Sokoto in 2002, among other instances. (NAN)

Send Us A Press Statement Advertise With Us Contact Us

 And For More Nigerian News Visit GWG.NG