Against the position of the former Political Adviser to former President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Office, Senator Babafemi Ojudu that Buhari did not support the aspiration of President Bola Tinubu, the former Director General of the Voice of Nige- ria (VON), Osita Okechukwu has said that the former President was neutral.
Okechukwu, in his statement issued in Abuja yesterday alleged that Buhari did not support any presidential aspirant but insisted that the delegates to the Convention, which held at the Eagles Square, Abuja, should decide the party’s flag bearer.
Senator Ojodu had recently said that the former President did not either support the Vice President, Temi Osinbajo or Tinubu’s ambition for the Presidency in 2023.
But reacting to this, the former DG of VON debunked such misinformation. Okechukwu said Ojudu’s so called disclosure was less than factual, that the true position was that:
“Yes there was split opinion on whether to support Tinubu or not and Buhari sided with the camp led by then Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, quoting the Holy Quran that he cannot ditch the man who stood by him through thick and thin. Rather let the delegates elect whoever is their choice at Eagle Square.”
Reminded that Ojudu was then the Political Adviser and must have known the inner workings of the Aso Villa more than him, Okechukwu, however, maintained that there was division in the Buhari’s kitchen cabinet immediately after the report of the Screening Committee headed by the former APC Chairman, John Oyegun, was submitted.
“The argument centred on whether some of the 23 presidential aspirants, including Tinubu, should be disqualified following a plethora of allegations flying around them.
“The only truth in Ojudu’s statement is that Buhari didn’t mobilise for any of the 23 aspirants, not even for Senator Ahmed Lawan. “Truly if Buhari was in support of Lawan he could have disclosed this to the APC Governors Forum who prodded him serially to tell them who to vote for.
It couldn’t have been the then National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, to inform only the National Working Committee. The Aso Villa is the arena for such an important message.” Okechukwu retorted.
