National leader of the All Progressives Congress and former governor of
Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has denied allegations raised by
online journal, Sahara Reporters in its report titled: “Threat of
perjury trial: How Jonathan Blackmailed Bola Tinubu before 2011
Presidential election”, threatening legal action if the publishers fail
to issue a retraction.
Tinubu Media Organisation has also confirmed his interest in the Vice President slot of his party.
A human rights lawyer and activist, Olatunji Abayomi, has demanded a
retraction arguing that the report is not only false, but defamatory. “We demand a statement acknowledging your error of trying to damage
our client’s reputation as well as a statement regretting the same. “Please this matter must be attended to immediately otherwise you run
the risk of multiple civil suits all over the world in defence of our
client, “Abayomi wrote. The lawyer said the report attempted to defame Tinubu’s reputation by
spreading old, utterly false gossip in hope of wrongly destroying his
prospects, adding that there was no charge at the Federal High Court
numbered FHC/ABJ/CR/04/2011, nor was Tinubu tried or convicted.
Abayomi noted that the United States Embassy, in its February 4, 2003
response to an inquiry by the Inspector-General of Police, stated that
there is “no criminal arrest, records, wants or warrants for Bola Ahmed
Tinubu.” “If you had checked readily available records, you would have found
that he travels periodically to the United States. Had he been engaged
in criminal wrongdoing, he would have been ineligible for entry into
that country,” Abayomi wrote. The said story generated reactions on the social media, as the
Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on New Media, Reno
Omokri, urged Tinubu to come clean on the issue. In a related development, Senator Bola Tinubu has confirmed his
interest in the vice presidential ticket of the APC, stating that
governance had little to do with religion, region or rumour but more
with vision and competence.
This was disclosed in a statement by his
media aide, Sunday Dare. Mr. Dare rubbished objection to Tinubu involvement in the race based
on his same religion with Buhari, his alleged involvement in
drug-trafficking and alleged tainted academic achievements.
Full text of the statement:
Season Of the Wrong Knives-Sahara Reporters Mis-Reports
Tinubu-newThe unfolding smear campaign against former Lagos governor
and leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu is no surprise. It had been in the
works for years since the Jonathan led government realized that Tinubu
commanded a powerful political followership. The successful merger and
birth of the APC posed the most potent threat to the PDP and Tinubu an
architect of the merger has become a marked man. The thought of a Buhari-Tinubu ticket confounds the PDP hierarchy and
their crisis-battered president. That Tinubu might be nominated as
General Buhari’s running mate also incenses the small element within the
APC who joined the party not for its progressive vision but to exploit
its platform to press forward their vision of themselves.
Having failed
at halting General Buhari’s bid, the PDP disinformation machine has
thrown itself into overdrive trying to stymie the selection of Tinubu.
Sadly, some elements within the APC – elevating their personal ambition
over party and national interests — have lent themselves to this
endeavor. During the Nazi takeover of Germany, madman Adolf Hitler became
jealous of those within his own party who showed independent thought and
who would not allow themselves to be bent just so he could satisfy his
megalomania. Outraged, he engineered a purge executing the lot of them.
This bloody scheme became known as the “night of the long knives.” In
Nigeria, we have entered the “season of the wrong knives.”
The recent report on one of the online news websites on the
allegations bordering on his academic qualification is not new. What is
new is how desperate they have become to stir up a new controversy using
an old lie. In the past these allegations were successfully rebutted.
Recent attempt to present them as fresh allegations will not go
unchallenged. The online report, published by Sahara Reporters claims that Tinubu
withdrew his support for the ACN in the 2011 election due to blackmail
by the president. It is rather odd that this report colors Tinubu as the
villain. If the report were true, he would be a victim.
President
Jonathan and his administration would be guilty of the high crime of
extortion. This tiny consideration seemed not to dawn on the authors of
this scurrilous piece; so fixated on stabbing Tinubu, they implicate
their own boss in wrongdoing. So eager to please their master,
Jonathan’s mindless men further ensnare him. If Tinubu had been scared off in 2011, it would make no sense for him
to spearhead the formation of the APC against the same president. If
the president had such control over TInubu why didn’t the president use
that leverage earlier to scuttle the APC before it gained a strong
position in the political space? The story makes no logical sense.
The particular accusations in the story further reveal the malice of
mind of those peddling it. They claim Tinubu did not attend Chicago
State University. They cite as their evidence a letter from the US
Consulate. But if you read the letter carefully, the surname stated is
“TinubO” not “TinubU.” If the University did a computer check on that
name, the check would come up empty. The culprits likely misspelled the
last name so that the name search would reveal nothing. This is clever
but immoral; it is a wrong knife. Meanwhile, Tinubu has genuine documents and pictures showing him as
an award-winning student at the school.
Nigeria should be proud that one
of its own graduated an honor student from an American university over
thirty years ago when that was more of a rarity than it is today.
Instead, his detractors want to pretend he never set foot on campus. As late as August 2012, Tinubu visited the university and was given a
special reception and a tour by the school’s president. This would not
have been done for a stranger. It would have been done for a
distinguished alumnus. After graduation, Tinubu landed jobs with two well established
international companies, one the accounting firm Deloitte and Touche and
the other, ExxonMobil. Such companies investigate an applicant’s
academic background. If he had not attended school, these companies
would not have hired him. He would not have excelled in them but he did.
The rumor about drug running is the lowest form of calumny. He has
never been arrested, charged or indicted for any drug-related crime. Had
any such suspicion existed, the American government would not have
granted him political asylum during the Abacha era. Under American law,
asylum cannot attach to anyone who has broken or offended that same law. Moreover, Tinubu travels frequently to the states. This means he has a
visa. American law prohibits visa issuance to anyone reasonably
suspected of drug dealing, let along being convicted of the same.
If I were Tinubu, I would place a wager with the PDP. He should offer
to fly to America if the PDP would also send Mr. Kashamu. Both can fly
to Chicago. Then he should bet the PDP who would return to Nigeria
first. We all know the answer. There is a vicious campaign to deter Tinubu from the APC ticket; this
campaign is being run from the PDP’s basement. They fear him. They
cannot assail his competence and experience. He has been an able senator
and governor. They cannot assail his commitment to democracy. He has
personally sacrificed more for democracy than all the PDP hierarchy
combined. They fear his ability to campaign, to get out the vote and to
protect that vote, especially in the southwest because they know that is
the pivotal region where the election will likely be won or lost.
These assailants desperately try to scuttle Tinubu’s potential
candidacy. In that the truth offers them no solace, they resort to lies.
They seek to ambush the man under cover of innuendo and untruth. But
their aim is off and their knives are wrong. In the end, what they use
to injure him will turn to point against them. Such is the outcome when
one engages in malice. Thus, they seek to prevent a person who may be controversial yet he
is perhaps Nigeria’s most able and versatile politician, strategist and
policy maker. For perhaps the most gifted politician of his time not to
seek national office is a luxury a nation in this dire circumstance can
ill afford. In the end, governance has little to do with religion,
region or rumor. It has to do with vision and competence. The wrong
knives will never be able to cut that truth.
Source: VANGUARD
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