Former Lagos State Governor and frontline All Progressives Congress presidential aspirant, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Thursday angrily lashed out at President Muhammadu Buhari over his refusal to concede the party’s ticket to him.
Tinubu, who was in a combative mode, accused Buhari of being ungrateful to him for railroading him to victory in the 2015 presidential election.
Tinubu, whose angry outburst was greeted with cheers from the crowd in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said he had never asked Buhari for a favour since he became president.
Also present at the event, where Tinubu also said he made former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, in Lagos State, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the vice-president, were host Governor Dapo Abiodun; as well as his Kano and Lagos State counterparts, Abdullahi Ganduje and Babajide Sanwo-Olu respectively.
Also present was a former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima.
Tinubu said Buhari offered him a running mate ticket, but some blocs rose against him, fanning the ember of a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
The former governor also said when he was asked to submit three names for running mate, he pencilled down Yemi Cardoso, Wale Edun and Yemi Osinbajo.
He added that he later settled for Osinbajo as running mate.
“You have not heard this from me before. This is the first place I am saying this,” Tinubu who addressed the delegates in Yoruba said.
Speaking on Buhari’s emergence, he said, “If not me that led the war front, Buhari wouldn’t have emerged. He contested first, second and third time, but lost. He even said on television that he won’t contest again.
“But I went to his home in Katsina. I told him you would contest and win, but you won’t joke with the matters of the Yorubas. Since he has emerged, I have not been appointed minister. I didn’t get any contract. I didn’t borrow money from his government. I didn’t ask him for garri. I didn’t ask him for anything.
“I only told him that it is the turn of the Yorubas. And since it’s the turn of the Yorubas, it’s my own turn.”
Tinubu also said without God and him, Governor Dapo Abiodun would not have emerged in 2019 election.
“Dapo that’s sitting down here, could he have become Governor without me? We were at the stadium, they tore all his posters. Even the party flag, they didn’t want to hand it over to him, I was the one who brought it.
“If he wants to meet God at the right place, he must know that without God and me, he would not have become Governor.”
In his remarks, Abiodun who had earlier declared his support for Osinbajo’s candidature, refused to endorse Tinubu.
He told Tinubu that delegates from the state would do “the right thing” at the convention.
Abiodun described Tinubu as a political warrior, serial winner and strategist.
