Tinubu Lambasted Saraki

Asiwaju Tinubu of Lagos state

NATIONAL Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has lambasted Senate President, Bukola Saraki, describing him as an indiscipline, disloyal and member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in soul.

Tinubu spoke yesterday while denying media reports that he was conspiring with Senate President Saraki to move against President Muhammadu Buhari over his alleged disaffection with the ministerial list.

Insisting that President Buhari must be supported by all to realise the change agenda, Tinubu said there was no way he could conspire with Saraki, who he said was indisciplined, disloyal and a PDP member in soul.
 
Tinubu spoke via a statement from Conakry, Guinea, by his Media Director, Dare Sunday.

“The idea of an alleged conspiracy between Tinubu and Saraki against the President is a lie. Tinubu is committed to the APC vision and the Nigeria Project. The way Senator Saraki captured his current seat travestied party discipline” he said.

Reacting to the attack, the Senate President, Saraki, said he would not join issues with Tinubu and promised that the screening of ministerial nominees, starting tomorrow, would be done objectively according to the laws of the country and in the interest of Nigerians.
 
Tinubu in the statement said: “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.

“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 progressives against progressives,” he said
 
The APC leader said he would not toss aside a lifetime’s labour because of an alleged slight and certainly would not join with Senator Saraki in stymieing the government which might just be the nation’s last best chance to salvage itself.

“In our journey to national betterment, plans and policies will be made, then amended. Mistakes will occur and then be 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 continued: ‘’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 extra-judicial treatment of his issues.’’

The statement read in part: ‘’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 de-construct.

“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 programme 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…

“Those who midwifed this garish tale gave birth not to truth but to lies intended to kill APC unity and to slowpoke 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.

“Here, I will do those who inhabit the shadows of untruth a favour. 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.’’