The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Special Duties, Malam Ya’u Darazo, has called on Nigerians to ignore recent negative reports in the media targeting Sen. Bola Tinubu.
Darazo made the call in a statement on Saturday in Abuja as a supporter of the presidential ambition of Tinubu, pleading that APC members should ignore the reports.
Tinubu, a two-term Lagos State governor, is a frontline presidential aspirant of the APC and one of the party’s national leaders.
Darazo described the negative report as a malicious attempt by Tinubu’s opponents to misrepresent what he told party leaders and delegates in Abeokuta, Ogun recently.
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He noted that the distortion of what the frontline presidential aspirant said was a dubious attempt to cause discord between him and President Muhammadu Buhari.
The senior presidential aide, however, said he was speaking for himself as a member of the team working for Tinubu’s campaign.
“Let me start with a disclaimer. I am issuing this statement in my personal capacity, this is very important before mischief makers start attributing it to some other persons.
“For the avoidance of doubts, I am a supporter of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I, therefore, belong to the team assiduously working for Asiwaju’s 2023 Presidential Project and on this mandate I stand.
“While addressing party delegates and supporters in Abeokuta, Tinubu recalled his contributions to the formation of APC.
“He also recalled how his support made it possible for
Buhari to be elected president in 2015 having lost in three previous attempts in 2003, 2007 and 2011.
“Tinubu’s address which was made in Yoruba was taking out of context by opponents and mischief makers to damage his standing with the president,” Darazo said.
He noted that President Buhari could, however, see through the mischief, having being a victim of mis-representation himself in the past.
He stressed that no ill-motivated plot could destroy the relationship between Buhari and Tinubu.
Darazo noted that in the last 48 hours the media space had been filled by reports planted by mischief makers.
He said they had misrepresented Tinubu’s speech with the sole aim of planting discord between him and Buhari to earn added advantage in the primaries for the APC presidential ticket.
“I have a message for them, they have failed woefully, they should not take Nigerians for granted.
“Nigerians are wise enough. Let the mischief makers note that good and purposeful leadership is not on the same page with mischief.
“It’s good that Nigerians know them early enough. It’s very clear that their purpose of seeking leadership is not service-driven,” Darazo said.
He said that though Tinubu while in Abeokuta spoke Yoruba to the party’s leaders and delegates, his speech, when translated, was quite acceptable and politically relevant to the audience and even beyond.
“Truth is sacred, if the mischief makers think that by mis-presenting Asiwaju’s statement they will get the sympathy of the president; they have failed again and failed woefully.
“President Buhari is not a stranger to the bashing of media mischief, he is a veteran.
“He passed through it, he suffered from it like no other leader in this country, when he sees media mischief, he would know it; certainly, like this one against Asiwaju,” Darazo stressed.
He made a flashback how Buhari had been unfairly mis- represented in the past just to damage him politically before he became president in 2015.
Darazo noted further that Buhari was presented to Nigerians as a religious bigot when he addressed a Muslim event in Sokoto in 2002, among other instances.