Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal, opined that the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, may make northerners rethink their support for the Yoruba presidency.
Tinubu, while addressing the Ogun State APC delegates at the Presidential Lodge, Abeokuta, Thursday, stated that he brought the President, Major General Muhammdu Buhari (rtd), out of political retirement and assisted him to become Nigeria’s President in 2015.
Tinubu said, “If not me that led the war front, Buhari would not have emerged. But I went to his home in Katsina; I told him you would contest and win, but ‘you would not joke with Yoruba matters.
“Since he has emerged, I have not been appointed minister. I didn’t get a contract. This time, it’s the Yoruba’s turn and in Yorubaland, it’s my tenure.”
Reacting to his statement, Lawan argued described the comment as ‘bullshit,’ adding that Tinubu was not the only person who made the difference. He said that many others supported Buhari and never bragged about it.
Vanguard quoted Lawal thus: “Sometimes it is complicated to support a Yoruba person in national politics if you are not one.
“They make you regret your support because they eventually make you seem like a traitor to your people. All these comments about Bola’s Yoruba presidency and his support of Buhari, without which Buhari would not have been president, are bullshit.
“He wasn’t the only one whose support made a difference. Many others were all around the country, and they were not bragging about it.
“You may wish to know that all of us Buhari supporters are shocked and pissed off by Bola’s speech on this occasion. It is unlike him.
“And this speech is massively trending in the North and being given a negative connotation as you can well imagine. I first read it this morning on an Adamawa group platform, and the anger is palpable.
Hinting whether Tinubu will win Monday’s APC primaries without Northern support, he said,
“You would think Yorubas will resist the temptation of joining in the northerners-bashing game at this very critical time – the primary election is only three days away. Unfortunately, Bola himself chose to join in this bashing game – choosing to speak in the Yoruba language and Yoruba land in a manner that seems to denigrate Buhari. I could vividly imagine the discomfort of all the northerners sitting beside him on that podium.
“This appears to be the Abiola saga being replayed. Abiola won the election with a majority of Northern votes, but they took the brunt of the post-election protests.
“Survey all the people doing more meaningful practical things to enthroned Bola as president. Almost all are northerners, while his relatives engage in social media activism and Northern bashing.
“When Yorubas vilify the North like this, our sense of fear and insecurity under a Yoruba presidency gets heightened and, in the end, pushes us to rethink our support for not only Bola but any Yoruba as president for that matter.
“Please, do not join our opponents to destroy our chances of clinching Monday’s primary elections.”
