Buhari over the Ministerial list, Leader of the All progressive Congress,
APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, took a swipe on Senate President Bukola
Saraki, accusing him of blocking the APC Government.
Tinubu said the Senate President is a disloyal member of the APC who only
joined the party on paper but remains a member of the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP.
In a statement signed by his Media Adviser who also doubles as Chief of
Staff, Mr. Sunday Dare, Tinubu advised the Senate President not to inject
his personal issues while trying to screen the Ministerial nominees.
The Statement reads:
“TINUBU REMAINS TRUE TO THE APC VISION AND THE NIGERIAN PROJECT”.
The SUN Newspaper has taken a sad excursion from journalism into the realm
of gothic tales and political slander. That sheet has turned itself into a
harbor of perjury and malice in telling tales by moonlight. In venturing
to publish the recent story that Asiwaju Tinubu has conspired with Senator
Saraki to thwart the Buhari administration, the SUN Newspaper has
descended to the lowest and darkest rungs of journalism ethics. The stench
of the piece and motives behind it are too noxious to ignore.
Those who midwifed this garish tale give birth not to truth but to lies
intended to kill APC unity and to retard the Buhari administration’s
strategic reform initiatives, as earlier outlined by our party manifesto.
Given the potential for change that stands before us, we are now beginning
to see the true nature of many people. There are those who truly want
positive change so that we can break from the ways of a stolid past. Then
there are those who speak of change with their mouths but never believe in
it in their hearts. They came along with us for the ride or because no
other political option availed itself at the operative time. Now given the
chance to redeem themselves from their past political actions, they would
rather return to the political morass from whence they came.
The idea of an alleged conspiracy between Tinubu and Saraki against the
President is an execrable lie. Without any proof except the veil of
innuendo and some hatemongers masquerading as presidency sources, the
story proclaims that the government is surveilling Asiwaju Tinubu because
of his purported unhappiness about the ministerial list.
Too mischievous yet cowardly for their own good, the yarn-spinners at the
SUN neglect to precisely state what terrible thing they believe Tinubu to
have done. This ambiguity is in part purposeful; their villainy seeks to
place the innocent on edge and to cause those who must work together if
the nation is to progress to begin to doubt the bona fides of each other.
With such a story, they hope to break the walls of confidence so that they
may kindle mutual animus between the President and Tinubu. By getting the
two to fight and weaken each other, they may then swoop down to destroy
both.
If this nation is to have more than a fleeting chance of escaping the
quagmire into which years of PDP misrule have taken us, we cannot allow
these regressive elements to deploy their cunning tricks to divide and pit
progressive against progressive.
Here, I will do those who inhabit the shadows of untruth a favor. I will
state explicitly what they hoped to get the reader to infer. Their claim
is that Tinubu has joined with Saraki to scuttle the President’s
ministerial nominations. They have misfired.
Their wrong is a great wrong. Like the rest of us, Asiwaju Tinubu waited
for the President to select his cabinet. The majority of the selections
have been made. There is nothing to do but congratulate the appointees and
pray for them. Their responsibilities are vast, the future of the nation
now rests on their shoulders. The challenges before them are manifold and
daunting. Those who want the best for Nigeria can only hope that these
people succeed. The only intervention that Asiwaju Tinubu would make is
one of encouragement. He would charge them to remain true to the
progressive vision of the party and our President. None should allow
themselves to be enticed to join league with those who would cast us back
into the old mould of PDP governance: to Pilfer, Destroy and Pillage.
Instead they should cohere faithfully to the enlightened programs and
promises made by our party and this government.
Other than voice this encouragement, Bola Tinubu will never say a negative
word or lift a finger to forestall anyone’s approval before the Senate.
For the record, the Buhari Presidency was brought to life by the votes of
millions of Nigerians who desire change. Such a collective and historic
achievement is not one that anyone who worked to bring it to life would
easily seek to deconstruct.
This government is for the betterment of the people and the national
purpose is bigger and more important that any individual’s desires.
In our journey to national betterment, plans and policies will be made,
then amended. Mistakes will occur and then corrected. Achievements will
be had and replicated. Through it all, Asiwaju will remain true to the
progressive ideals that fuelled the creation of the APC. He has devoted
his political life to achieve what has been achieved. His heart is too
much of the people and his mind too fixed on establishing a positive
historic legacy to suffer such a cynical policy or engage in the
destructive pettiness of which he is accused.
He would not toss aside a lifetime’s labor because of an alleged slight
and certainly would not join with Senator Saraki in stymying this
government which may just be the nation’s last best chance to salvage
itself.
Given the exigencies of his position, President Buhari is placed in an
unenviable position to some degree. The duties of his office give him no
choice; necessity constrains him, requiring that he discourse with Senator
Saraki. As party leader, Asiwaju is free of such constraints. On these
matters, I know where Asiwaju Tinubu stands. He remains glued to the party
decision that the manner by which Saraki captured his current seat
travestied party discipline. It was a crass act of disloyalty showing that
Saraki may have joined the APC on paper but has remained true to the
malpractices and wrong aims of the reactionary PDP in his soul.
The alleged conspiracy is a figment. It takes at least two people to make
a conspiracy. There has been no substantive communication between Asiwaju
and Saraki since the latter decided to foul the integrity of the Senate
and the party. To be truthful, I don’t think Saraki would care to hear
what Asiwaju would have to say to him. He would admonish the Senator to
treat the nomination process with dispatch, justice, fairness,
transparency, and most of all with the greatest patriotism.
He would counsel Saraki to shelve his personal situation for the moment
to concentrate on the people’s business. It would be a grave mistake and
abuse of office for Saraki to directly or indirectly inject his personal
matter into the approval process. Saraki should not link the approval of
a single Minister to his desire for extrajudicial treatment of his
issues.
If adhering to the decisions of the party, supporting the government’s
progressive plank and working for the good of the people qualifies Tinubu
for surveillance, then he will accept that. However, we know that any such
surveillance is not from state security organs. Such activity would come
from the insecurity agencies of the PDP and its mercenary allies elsewhere
who would seek to fragment the true core of the APC so that they may
scuttle the Buhari reform program and return the nation to the
misgovernance of the past. They hope to delude the APC into attacking
itself. By so doing, they believe they can regain through stealth, the
reins of government the people seized from them through elections. They
seek to break the hearts and hopes of the people. Asiwaju Tinubu would
never team with anyone to gain such an inhumane objective.
While the Sun seems to have abandoned its journalistic norms, Tinubu shall
remain true to his progressive ideals.
*Signed- Sunday Dare
Chief of Staff to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu/Special Adviser Media