“Tunde was strong, loyal and extremely committed to the cause of
positively changing the narrative about Nigeria, which the administration
set out to do at that time,” the President Muhammadu Buhari has said.
Speaking, Monday, when he received APC governorship aspirants and members
of the party from the three senatorial zones of Kwara State at State
House, President Buhari recalled how his former deputy, who, while on
pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia when the administration was overthrown in 1985,
insisted on returning to the country despite the political uncertainty
especially as he had learnt that he, as Commander-in-Chief at that time,
had not been killed in the take-over.
The President added that the late Idiagbon rejected the offer from the
King of Saudi Arabia to bring members of his (Idiagbon) family from
Nigeria to the Kingdom, as he was his guest at that time, and eventually
returned to Nigeria to suffer arrest like he (Buhari) did.
President Buhari further enjoined Nigerians to remain faithful and loyal
to the country in all their dealings. “You don’t have to be in uniform to
be loyal. What I said long ago in 1984 is still valid today. We have no
other country but Nigeria. Others who feel they have another country may
choose to go. We will stay here and salvage it together,” he said.
President Buhari thanked the APC stakeholders for the position they have
taken to continue to support the party regardless of the outcome of the
primaries and assured them that, with the unity displayed so far, APC will
form the government in Kwara State after the 2019 elections.