All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu will
\nnever stand in any contest against President Muhammadu Buhari or support
\nanyone against him, his Media Office said yesterday.<\/p>\n
Tinubu pledged his continued loyalty to the president and the APC in a
\nstatement to debunk Thisday\u2019s story published yesterday.<\/p>\n
The statement titled: \u201cResponse to Thisday false news report\u201d added that
\nthe former Lagos State governor was neither planning a team nor holding
\nconsultations with the intention of planning any presidential campaign.<\/p>\n
It also said Tinubu would never join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or
\nany mega party, having laboured hard to bring the APC to life and power.<\/p>\n
The statement said: \u201cThe front page story of\u00a0the February 28 Thisday
\nnewspaper\u00a0alleging that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is actively planning a
\npresidential run is an example of bad fiction\u00a0masquerading as professional
\njournalism.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe story is a manufactured tale weaved by its authors to try to create
\ndivision where there is none.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who wrote this fantasy seek to place Asiwaju Tinubu at odds with
\nPresident Buhari. Writing such a baseless report is a very foul and wrong
\nthing to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe story carried the headline \u2018Tinubu Prepares for Presidential Run,
\nDumps PDP, Mega Party Alliance\u2019.\u00a0The headline is remarkable in the fact
\nthat every bit of it is utterly wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst, Asiwaju Tinubu is not gearing up for a presidential run. So there
\nwill not be any doubt about this core matter; we shall state Tinubu\u2019s
\nposition clearly and unequivocally so that even Thisday reporters cannot
\nmisinterpret\u00a0his position.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as that patriotic and committed man named Muhammadu Buhari holds
\nand seeks to\u00a0hold the mantle as our president, then Asiwaju Tinubu stands
\nbehind him in unwavering support and confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsiwaju Tinubu remains faithful to the mission of progressive reform and
\nchange that President Buhari, he and the All Progressives Congress (APC)
\nhave started.<\/p>\n
\u201cTinubu was instrumental in the formation and success of the APC. His toil
\nand efforts helped establish this government.\u00a0 He is not one to tear down
\nsomething he laboured so dutifully to build.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of trying to convey the truth, the THISDAY\u00a0report\u00a0opted to
\ngain\u00a0false sensation by completely mocking the tenor of the brief banter
\nAsiwaju Tinubu had with journalists at the inauguration of Ondo State
\nGovernor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu. When asked about future political office,
\nAsiwaju said he could not discount that possibility if the nation called
\nupon him for such service, provided, he emphasised, that all political
\nconditions were appropriate; particularly\u00a0the office in question would
\nhave to be vacant, even if it\u2019s local government chairmanship. In our
\npolitical lexicon, this means the office is not held by a member of the
\nAPC in good standing.\u00a0 We all know this.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoreover, if you really listen to his words, Asiwaju did not mention any
\noffice or any time-frame.\u00a0 The conditions he mentioned may not become ripe
\nfor years to come and they might not pertain to the presidency. In effect,
\nall Asiwaju said was the position that any political figure would hold.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a politician, he cannot preclude the possibility of running for office
\nin the future because no man knows what the future will hold. To translate
\nthis general statement of political reality into a tale that he is
\nactively preparing for a 2019 presidential run is reckless in the extreme.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor that newspaper\u2019s reporters to have engaged in this great leap of
\ncounterfeit logic means they purposefully bowed to the pressure to create
\nfalse headlines instead of following the ethics of their craft to follow
\nthe truth even if the truth is more pedestrian and less volatile than what
\nthe reporters would have liked to hear. \u201cThey have turned themselves into
\nnewsmakers instead of remaining true to their calling of being neutral
\nconveyors of events.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsiwaju Tinubu has\u00a0not held\u00a0any planning\u00a0meetings\u00a0for any
\nsuch\u00a0presidential campaign and\u00a0is not contemplating any such meetings. He
\nhas no present list of possible running mates because he has no present
\nintention of running.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe\u00a0headline also libels Asiwaju by asserting he was going to join the
\nPDP.\u00a0 This is as shameless as a lie can be. Asiwaju is acknowledged to be
\nthe intellectual father and the driving force behind the APC.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes no sense that he would abandon the party that he worked hard to
\nbuild in order to enter the dilapidated building the PDP has become.
\nAsiwaju worked for over 16 years to break the PDP yoke on the nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter breaking that yoke, it is not in his nature to voluntarily place it
\nback on our necks. Anyone who has followed his career, even his staunchest
\ncritics, knows Asiwaju for his partisan consistency. He is not a party
\nhopper. He is loyal and sticks with the party to which he belongs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter fighting for so many years to elevate his party to the position of
\nnational leadership, he would not give that away in order to join with
\nthose who blame him for their currently bleak\u00a0political circumstance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand all too well the genesis of this false news report. For
\ntheir own reasons, THISDAY has joined with those who seek to put\u00a0Asiwaju
\nTinubu at odds with our\u00a0President.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis scam will fail. Asiwaju\u00a0supports and stands behind\u00a0\u00a0 President
\nBuhari. He wishes the president well\u00a0and that he returns soon.\u00a0Whether the
\npresident is here or away, he has the full loyalty of Asiwaju Tinubu.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Buhari can rest assured on this point: Asiwaju Tinubu will
\nnever contest against him nor will he support anyone who does.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu will never stand in any contest against President Muhammadu Buhari or support anyone against him, his Media Office said yesterday. Tinubu…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n