APC says Tinubu will be punished for attacking Buhari
…his remarks is an insult on president – APC national chairman
By Lanre Oloyede
Former Lagos State governor and leading presidential hopeful on the platform of All Progressives Congress, APC, may face disciplinary action of the party over his ‘unsavory’ comments against President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerian Pilot has learned.
National Chairman of APC, Abdullahi Adamu gave the indication on Saturday when he addressed a press conference at the party’s National Secretariat to show the displeasure of APC leadership against Tinubu’s comments.
Recall that while addressing a team of ad-hoc delegates at Abeokuta the Ogun State capital on Tuesday, former Lagos state governor, Tibubu was seen in a video revealing what transpired between him and president Buhari prior to the 2023 general elections.
Tinubu also boasted of how he helped the President and other APC leaders to win elections in 2015.
The comment, which has since gone viral, had now attracted the ire of the President’s camp and the leadership of APC.
APC national Chairman, Adamu, at the press conference told journalists that Tinubu’s statement was unfortunate and unbecoming of a leader of his calibre and standing.
“It is very insultive; it is very unbecoming for a person of that standing to do what he did for a sitting president of the federal republic of Nigeria. The president that was produced by the votes of APC, our own, though as president you belong to everyone, every Nigerian, but the fact of the matter is that the platform of APC threw him out to that office.
“It’s a bit amazing how a fellow APC person will make those kinds of comments in those kinds of circumstances about the president. We take exception to this and it doesn’t show any appreciable level of respect to the office of the president and for the person of Mr. President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Therefore, we want to make it public that we are saddened about what we saw in the video in that reportage and that we condemn it in strongest terms and we do hope that he will never ever say that kind of thing again on the screen, either in the social media or the television, radio or any other public appearance by anybody or particularly those who are of the APC extraction to make those kinds of unbecoming comments”, he said.
Perhaps, realising the enormity of the backlashes his comments has generated, the former Lagos State governor has since issued several statements retracting the said comments.
But according to Adamu, Tinubu’s statement showed no remorse or deep sense of regrets and as such is likely to face a punitive measure to be declared by the party in due course.
“Yes he spoke with me yesterday, but he came here this morning to show some efforts, to retract but that is not adequate, if he was sincere, it was not in depth enough, it doesn’t wipe out the negative impression that that event has left in our minds. I thought I should share this with you, this is our position and I as the national Chairman of this ruling party have a duty to come out and stand by our government to stand by our president and safeguard his integrity and the integrity of this government.
“What he said was not an apology; it was just mere retraction to say he didn’t mean that and that he has the greatest respect for the person of Mr. President. It’s not a regret, he didn’t show any apology,” Adamu averred.
Speaking on the punitive measure, Adamu, who declined to reveal what that may be, asked journalists to watch out for it.
“Watch out for the punitive measure, if there’s any need for us to punish any member of the party, not just Bola Tinubu, anybody, we will bring them to book. But watch out for the punitive measure,” Adamu stressed.
The National Chairman also spoke on the screening recently submitted by the Chairman of the presidential screening panel, John Odigie Oyegun, saying the party has not disqualified any aspirant contrary to what the media reported.
He said what the panel simply did was to grade the aspirants based on their assessment of their performance and competence.
“No aspirant has been disqualified. We have a report, no aspirant had been disqualified. It’s like sitting for an exam, even if you passed, there’s grading, there’s a first class, second class upper, lower and ordinary pass,” Adamu remarked.
He added that the President has invited all the 23 aspirants to a dinner tonight (Saturday).
