Tinubu plotting to succeed Buhari in 2023 – Saraki
— 21st August 2018
“Tinubu would rather live with the identified inadequacies in the government for the sake of fulfilling and preserving his presidential ambition in 2023.”
– Tackles president, APC
Fred Itua, Abuja
Twenty-four hours after former governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, alleged that Senate President, Bukola Saraki, exited the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) because he was not promised a return ticket, the latter has fired back.
In a lengthy statement he personally signed, yesterday, Saraki described Tinubu’s support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s second bid as selfish. He said Tinubu is supporting Buhari’s re-election with the assurance that power would return to the South West geographical zone, his zone, in 2023.
While lashing out at Tinubu, Saraki did not spare the APC and Buhari. He accused the president of treating the National Assembly with disdain, while labeling APC as “a party, which ignores justice, equity, and inclusion as basic pre-condition for peace, unity and stability.”
Saraki wrote: “Tinubu himself will recall that during the various meetings he had with me at the time he was pursuing reconciliation within the party, I raised all the above issues.
“I can also vividly recall that he always expressed his displeasure with the style of the government and also mentioned that he had equally suffered disrespect from the same government, which we all worked to put in office. I also made the point that whatever travail I have gone through in the last three years belongs to the past and will definitely not shape my decisions now and in the future.
“However, during those meetings, the point of disagreement between me and him is that while I expressed my worry that there was nothing on ground to assure me that the administrative style and attitude would change in the next four years, in a manner that would enable us deliver the positive changes we promised to our people, he (Tinubu) expressed a strong opinion that he would rather ‘support a Buhari on the hospital stretcher’ to get a second term because, in 2023, power will shift to the South West. This Tinubu’s viewpoint was not only expressed to me, but to several of my colleagues. So much for acting in national interest.
“It is clear that while my own decision is based on protecting collective, national interest, Tinubu would rather live with the identified inadequacies in the government for the sake of fulfilling and preserving his presidential ambition in 2023. This new position of Tinubu has only demonstrated inconsistency, particularly when one reviews his antecedent over the years.
“Again, let me reiterate my position that my uncertain and complex relationship with Tinubu has been continually defined by the event of 2014, when myself and other leaders of the APC opposed the Muslim-Muslim ticket arrangement about to be foisted on the APC for the 2015 polls.
“It should be noted that he has not forgotten the fact that I took the bull by the horns and told him that in the interest of the country, he should accept the need for the party to present a balanced ticket for the 2015 general elections, in terms of religion and geo-political zones. Since that time, he has been very active, plotting, at every point, to undermine me, within and outside the National Assembly.
“It is a surprise to me that Asiwaju Tinubu is still peddling the falsehood about the fact that my defection is about automatic ticket and sharing of resources. Members of the public will recall that when the issue of my decision to quit APC came to the fore and many APC leaders were holding meetings with me, a newspaper owned by the same Tinubu published a false report about the promise of automatic ticket, oil block and other benefits."
— 21st August 2018
“Tinubu would rather live with the identified inadequacies in the government for the sake of fulfilling and preserving his presidential ambition in 2023.”
– Tackles president, APC
Fred Itua, Abuja
Twenty-four hours after former governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, alleged that Senate President, Bukola Saraki, exited the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) because he was not promised a return ticket, the latter has fired back.
In a lengthy statement he personally signed, yesterday, Saraki described Tinubu’s support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s second bid as selfish. He said Tinubu is supporting Buhari’s re-election with the assurance that power would return to the South West geographical zone, his zone, in 2023.
While lashing out at Tinubu, Saraki did not spare the APC and Buhari. He accused the president of treating the National Assembly with disdain, while labeling APC as “a party, which ignores justice, equity, and inclusion as basic pre-condition for peace, unity and stability.”
Saraki wrote: “Tinubu himself will recall that during the various meetings he had with me at the time he was pursuing reconciliation within the party, I raised all the above issues.
“I can also vividly recall that he always expressed his displeasure with the style of the government and also mentioned that he had equally suffered disrespect from the same government, which we all worked to put in office. I also made the point that whatever travail I have gone through in the last three years belongs to the past and will definitely not shape my decisions now and in the future.
“However, during those meetings, the point of disagreement between me and him is that while I expressed my worry that there was nothing on ground to assure me that the administrative style and attitude would change in the next four years, in a manner that would enable us deliver the positive changes we promised to our people, he (Tinubu) expressed a strong opinion that he would rather ‘support a Buhari on the hospital stretcher’ to get a second term because, in 2023, power will shift to the South West. This Tinubu’s viewpoint was not only expressed to me, but to several of my colleagues. So much for acting in national interest.
“It is clear that while my own decision is based on protecting collective, national interest, Tinubu would rather live with the identified inadequacies in the government for the sake of fulfilling and preserving his presidential ambition in 2023. This new position of Tinubu has only demonstrated inconsistency, particularly when one reviews his antecedent over the years.
“Again, let me reiterate my position that my uncertain and complex relationship with Tinubu has been continually defined by the event of 2014, when myself and other leaders of the APC opposed the Muslim-Muslim ticket arrangement about to be foisted on the APC for the 2015 polls.
“It should be noted that he has not forgotten the fact that I took the bull by the horns and told him that in the interest of the country, he should accept the need for the party to present a balanced ticket for the 2015 general elections, in terms of religion and geo-political zones. Since that time, he has been very active, plotting, at every point, to undermine me, within and outside the National Assembly.
“It is a surprise to me that Asiwaju Tinubu is still peddling the falsehood about the fact that my defection is about automatic ticket and sharing of resources. Members of the public will recall that when the issue of my decision to quit APC came to the fore and many APC leaders were holding meetings with me, a newspaper owned by the same Tinubu published a false report about the promise of automatic ticket, oil block and other benefits."
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