Tinubu Vows To Deal With Buhari If Elected President

.....Says President plotting for him to lose the election

Senator Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is angry with President Muhammadu Buhari.

A source close to the former Lagos State Governor said he is very upset with President Buhari for deliberately working to frustrate his ambition of taking over from him as Nigeria’s next president.

The source said Tinubu, who is still chafing at the decision of the president and APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu last year to adopt Senate President Senator Ahmed Lawan, as their choice to pick the APC presidential ticket, has vowed that he will deal with Buhari once he is elected president.

“Asiwaju is very upset with President Buhari. He is convinced the president is going out of his way to prevent him from becoming president after him. He believes as some people have said, that President Buhari may be discreetly throwing his weight behind Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) presidential candidate who his fellow Fulani.

“Most of the people close to Asiwaju believe that even though Buhari has joined him on the campaign trail a few times and has said Asiwaju will take over from him, he has actually been working against him behind the scenes. Practically everyone in Asiwaju’s camp knows that the President is just going through the motions. His body language and some of the policies he has come up with suggest he is tacitly frustrating Asiwaju. Asiwaju is very disappointed with Buhari and has made up his mind to extract a pound of Buhari’s flesh if he becomes president”, the source said.

Indeed, the disquiet in the Tinubu group of the APC has worsened in the last few weeks with Tinubu himself leading members of the group including Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El Rufai and Adams Oshiomhole, former Chairman of the party openly defying President Buhari on different occasions over the redesign of the Naira. In late January, Tinubu while on campaign in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Tinubu had lashed out at President Buhari accusing him of trying to undermine his candidacy by redesigning the Naira and its accompanying scarcity, and fuel scarcity following an increase in the pump price of fuel, so close to the election. The APC presidential candidate speaking at the MKO Abiola Stadium, fired a broadside at President Buhari:

“Let fuel be expensive, only they know where they keep it. Keep the Naira, we will vote and be elected. You may change the ink on the Naira notes. What you expect will not happen. We will win.

They said petrol will rise to N200 per litre and N500 per litre, let your mind be at rest. They don’t want these forthcoming elections to hold. They want to scatter it but that won’t be possible.

“They thought they cause trouble; they sabotaged fuel but with or without fuel, with or without motorcycles, we will vote and win. This is a superior revolution”.

A few weeks after Tinubu’s outburst in Abeokuta on February 15, 2023, Governor El-Rufai openly defied President Buhari in a broadcast to Kaduna people on the redesigned Naira notes. The president had in a national broadcast, stated that the old 500 and 1000 notes had ceased to be legal tender. He said the old 200 notes would be allowed to continue to be in circulation until April 10, 2023.

In his broadcast of February 16, Governor El-Rufai told Kaduna people to ignore the president’s directive.

“Let us stay calm and peaceful, and support the lawful means being employed to solve our problems. On behalf of the Kaduna State Government, I wish to assure you that none of you would lose the money you have in old notes. Let no artificial and illegal deadline frighten you. Whether you live in towns, villages or in our isolated rural communities, do not feel stampeded to deposit your old notes in the banks. Hold onto them. Continue to use them as legal tender as ordered by the Supreme Court of Nigeria. No law can render them worthless, ever. The law is on your side. The CBN Act, 2007 and the Bills of Exchange Act, both oblige the CBN to recognize your old notes and give you value in new notes whenever you bring them to the CBN, even in the next 100 years”, Governor El-Rufai said in the broadcast.

The Kaduna State Governor’s open defiance of President Buhari was followed up five days later by sharp criticism of the president by Oshiomhole while on campaign at the Jattu market in Edo State. The former Edo State Governor said if Buhari was not out to sabotage Tinubu’s presidential bid the he wonders why he did nor redesign the Naira in 2019 when he was seeking re-election. Speaking in a combination of pidgin and English language, he said:

“All the wahala Buhari put for currency change, my hand no dey inside. Our party don tell Buhari, wait, if you wan change currency, you should not change am during election.

“Wetin make you no change am during your time? You wan take am spoil another person time; e no do good. At this point, na God we go dey fear.

“He has to obey the Supreme Court. Supreme Court judgment is superior to the pronouncement of the president. That is the Nigerian law. Under democracy, the Supreme Court, once it pronounces, it must be obeyed. The president must obey Everywhere I go, I dissociate myself because the money in your hand, no be you print am, the colour e wear, no be you choose am.

“Na dem choose am. If dem say dey want to change it, make dem give you the new ones. Now, dem want to remove the old ones, dem no give you the new ones. So, if you have the old money, don’t throw it away. On this matter, President Buhari is on his own. Your Naira will remain valid according to the Supreme Court. Don’t throw away your Naira, keep it”.

Another source close to Tinubu says the direct attacks on President Buhari by Tinubu, El-Rufai, and other party members is an indication that the APC presidential candidate has reached the end of his tethers with Buhari. He said the decision by APC Governors closes to Tinubu to drag the Federal Government to the Supreme Court over the redesign of the Naira, was Tinubu’s subtle message to President Buhari that he had drawn the battle line.

PICTURE NEWS: ObiDatti’s Rally Flops In Ogun State

 

…….As the Former DG of LPPCC Conspicuously Absent

Some angry members of the Labour Party have described the ongoing presidential rally in Abeokuta, Ogun State, as a "monumental flop."

A notable member of the party who wishes to remain anonymous noted that the boycott of the presidential rally by notable leaders of the party in the state has further validated its position that all is not well with the Ogun State Labour Party.

"What else can be more humiliating than the embarrassing drama that is playing out now at the ObiDatti rally in Ogun State?" "It is an open rebuke of a delusional leader." 

The former Director General of the ObiDatti Campaign Organization, Dr. Doyin Okupe, is conspicuously absent. Also absent include the party’s State Chairman, Comrade Samuel Ashade, Oyelekan Akingbade, and Mr. Michael Feyisola, among others 

As of 5:00pm, below were the pictures from the venue:

Coalition Questions Why INEC Continues To Deal With Chief Victor Oye As APGA's National Chairman

 

The Centre for Credible Leadership and Citizens Awareness has questioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on what the name of Chief Victor Oye is still doing on the INEC website?

Addressing the media on Friday in Abuja, the Director General of the Coalition, Dr. Nwambu Gabriel wondered on what grounds is Chief Victor Oye’s name being retained on the INEC website?

“This act by INEC casts a shadow of doubt on the credibility of the coming election, he said.

The statement read partially,” As a coalition, we have observed with keen interest the controversy surrounding the corrected version of the Supreme Court Judgment of May 9, 2022. Despite the controversies, the lead Justice of the Panel Hon. Justice Mary U. Peter-Odili (Rtd), in other to ensure that justice prevails, had to write from retirement to clarify to all parties that Chief Edozie Njoku was the National Chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) that was wrongly removed at the Jigawa State High Court.

“In her letter dated November 7, 2022, the lead Justice and other members of the panel pointed out the misconception arising from the slip of pen and tongue on paragraph 1 of page 13 of the October 14, 2021 judgment and that this error had long been corrected.

“Interestingly, all the parties to the suit including INEC were duly served. This notwithstanding, the Commission is yet to honor the Supreme Court Judgment.

“A few days ago, January 19, 2023, the Chief Justice of Nigeria through the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, while admitting that Chief Victor Oye’s name was ‘erroneously inserted’ in the Judgment further confirmed Chief Edozie Njoku as the National Chairman of APGA and requested him to come forward with a motion to the Court for the regularization of the corrected version of the Judgment.  

The coalition, therefore, urged Professor Mahmood Yakubu and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in the spirit of fairness and justice, to look into the name of Chief Victor Oye on their INEC’s website because it sends the wrong signal both home and abroad.