Presidential Campaign Organisation of the Peoples Democratic Party has alleged that a former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is plotting to become the President of Nigeria through the back door.
It said the plot by the former governor, who is a stalwart of the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, was to take over as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the event that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) wins the March 28, 2015 presidential election.
Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP-PCO, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, made this allegation at a news conference in Abuja on Friday.
He nevertheless said the campaign team of the PDP-PCO wishes Buhari long life.
Fani-Kayode said skeletal information available to the PDP-PCO suggests that the Vice Presidential candidate of the APC, Prof Yemi Osibanjo, was picked by Tinubu and forced to take an oath to resign his appointment six months into the new cabinet should the APC win the elections.
The PDP-PCO further alleged that the party would field Tinubu as Osinbajo’s replacement after the alleged resignation.
Fani-Kayode argued that given the huge financial war chest being deployed by the leader of the party and his overbearing influence at single-handedly facilitating the emergence of Buhari and Osinbajo as the party’s candidates after allegedly failing to push the Muslim-Muslim ticket, further lends credence to his claim.
He asked Buhari to watch his back, adding that the alleged gang-up against him and Nigerians was based on the calculation that his health conditions would deteriorate and lead to his death, paving way for the vice president to take over power.
Fani-Kayode said, “It should baffle well-meaning Nigerians why Tinubu has decided to draft Buhari, despite his age, acrimonious background and questionable health status, into the presidential race whilst ensuring that his stooge, Prof Osinbajo, was foisted on the general as vice presidential candidate.
“The reason is that the PDP-PCO wishes to use this forum to expose the ungodly plan by Tinubu to seize the presidency of Nigeria by subterfuge.
“You will recall how Tinubu wanted to be running mate to Buhari in spite of the nationwide resentment for Muslim-Muslim ticket that he and Buhari planned to foist on their party.
“Senator Tinubu had justified the ticket by saying that competence was the important thing and not the issue of religion.
“But when he and Buhari could not push through the agenda within the APC, he (Tinubu), after being given the opportunity to nominate a vice presidential candidate, decided to prop up his stooge in the person of Prof. Osinbajo.
“Now the real reason Tinubu nominated Osinbajo has been made known to us and we hereby offer a public service to the Nigerian people by drawing their national attention to it. Credible pieces of information at our disposal indicate that Tinubu has perfected plans to come to power through the back door.
“Tinubu, according to our information, has compelled Osinbajo to swear to an oath that after six months in office, he would resign as the vice president, in the unlikely event that their party wins. The wicked plot, as laid out by them, is to force Osinbajo to resign for Tinubu to be nominated by Buhari as his replacement.
“The ultimate objective of this plot is to ensure that Tinubu becomes President. The script is simple: given the questionable health of Buhari, Tinubu, who is desperate to be president for his own selfish reasons, will simply bid his time in the evil expectation that Buhari will not be able to go the whole hog.
“How wicked can those that hatched this plan be? How unfair can they be to the North, to Buhari and to Nigerians? We wish Buhari long life. Senator Tinubu’s dangerous plan is about getting power. This is sad. No thoroughbred Yoruba man or indeed Nigerian wants to get power through the misfortune of another person.
“But this is the perfidious path that Tinubu is passing through. This is repugnant.
“It will interest you to know that our information is strengthened by the very similar act of resignation which Senator Tinubu had planned to force on Pastor Tunde Bakare which you can all watch now.
“We will like to show to you some footage that is on YouTube of Pastor Tunde Bakare’s interview where he openly admitted that he refused to sign a resignation letter that would have seen him hand over his vice presidential position had Buhari been successful in his presidential campaign in 2011.
“Becoming the vice president is not the destination but becoming the president! The agenda of the cabal within the APC is with the perceived health challenges of Buhari. They have told themselves in hushed tones that he has prostate cancer, acute asthma and that he suffers from dementia. This is their assessment and not ours. We do not know how true this is or what the nature of his illness is and neither are we interested. All these allegations of ill-health, to the cabal provide the justification for their evil plan.”
He said the structures around Buhari belong to Tinubu and that the actors around him, driving his campaign behind the scenes are also Tinubu’s men.
He said, “Most of the covert funding for this campaign comes from Tinubu’s friends outside the country and from Tinubu himself. So if he becomes President, Buhari will become virtually incapacitated and he will not be the one running the government. Those behind this plan would now be waiting for Buhari to pass on. That is what Tinubu wants to do to the North and to Nigeria.
“This is a wicked and ungodly attempt for Tinubu not only against the North and the Hausa/Fulani but against the whole country. We are convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that most Nigerians are not with this cabal. This is because no sane or rational person would wish another person evil to actualise his political ambition.”
The PUNCH's attempts to get the response from the spokesperson of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report. Calls to his mobile phone indicated that it was switched off while an e-mail sent to him had yet to be replied.
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