June 04, (THEWILL) – The leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the party may punish former governor of Lagos State and presidential aspirant, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over his utterances about President Muhammadu Buhari few days ago.
APC national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, disclosed this while briefing journalists at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Saturday.
Recall that Tinubu was seen in a video Tuesday, revealing how he helped the President and other APC leaders to win elections in 2015.
Although, Tinubu has apologised and issued a statement to clarify the reported outburst at Abeokuta the Ogun State capital. But briefing newsmen Saturday at the national secretariat of APC, Adamu said apology tendered by Tinubu not enough.
“He (Tinubu) went as far as saying how Gen. Muhammadu Buhari went to him, citing instances of even prostrating in tears begging him to endorse him and to support him for the presidency. He claimed Buhari went to him.
“His utterances are very very insulting. It’s very very unbecoming for a person of that standing to do what he did to the sitting president of the federal republic of Nigeria, the President produced by the votes of the APC. Though is the president he belongs to everybody. It is amazing how a fellow APC person would make that kind of comment in that kind of circumstances about the president. We take exception to this. It has shown that he does not show any appreciable level of respect for the office of Mr President.
“Therefore we want to make it public that we are saddened by what we saw in the video, in that reportàge and we condemn it in the strongest of terms.
“We do hope that he would never say that kind of again, particularly of the APC extraction to make such kinds of comments. Yes, yesterday we saw some part of a retraction, but that effort is not adequate. It is not sincere. It is not in-depth enough. It doesn’t wipe out the impression that that event has left in our mind”, he said.
When asked whether there would be punitive measures against Tinubu, Adamu said: “At the time this event took place, the screening committee have not presented their report to us at all. And was trying to suggest that anybody was under any threat. So there was no justification for the time that this thing happened.
“This morning we saw some traces of withdrawal of those statements. You see these are statements that his intention of actual action. Yes, we can’t say we refuse not seeing on the papers. It happened. He said he has the greatest respect for the president. You see in Hausa there is a proverb that once you take hold of any amount of grass from a thatched house and you pulled it off from the roof, you can’t replace the same number of grass. What is out is out. What he did say was not an apology. It’s just like trying to retract and you say I didn’t mean this. It’s a problem of misinterpretation. It is not a regret.
“If there is the need to penalise any member of the party not just Bola Tinubu, anybody we will bring him to the party book. Anybody as we watch events as they unfold.”
On the controversy surrounding statutory delegates, the APC national chairman said the “matter is in court. Convention statutory delegates are excluded.”
On disqualified presidential aspirants, he said: “I want to say very clearly that no aspirant has. been disqualified. It’s like sitting in an exam. Even if you pass there is grading from first-class to ordinary pass. So no aspirant was disqualified. Incidentally, the president has invited all of them to a dinner today.”
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