A US-based Nigerian professor, Farooq Kperogi, has said the attempt by the APC presidential campaign spokesman, Bayo Onanuga to defend his principal, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s comment about Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has worsened the situation.
Speaking at the 7th Kaduna Investment Summit (KadInvest) on Saturday, Tinubu praised El-Rufai’s “creativity and resiliency in turning a rotten situation into a bad one”.
The comment has made Tinubu, who is the presidential candidate of APC, a butt of jokes on social media.
“El-Rufai, your vision creativity & resiliency in turning a rotten situation into a bad one, is necessary at this critical time?”
— Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. 🙄😭🤣 pic.twitter.com/usNBMhgR3E
— NEFERTITI (@firstladyship) October 15, 2022
Some commentators said the comment could be indicative of a degenerative mental condition in Tinubu which would make him ineffective if elected president in 2023.
In a Saturday statement defending Tinubu, Onanuga said the comment was a “slip of tongue”.
“Earlier today at the Kaduna State Investment Summit, All Progressives Congress Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu while commending, Governor Nasir El-Rufai for his transformational leadership in the state had a slip of tongue that is common to every human being and even great leaders.
“The APC leader inadvertently said Governor El-Rufai “turned a rotten situation” he met on ground in Kaduna into “a bad one” whereas he meant to say “to a great one”.
“It was a mere slip, that is not unusual in life, even among leaders of nations.
“We recognise we are in political season where everything is latched on for deliberate distortion and twisted mischief.
“While mischief makers went so low, we noted that the audience at KadInvest 7.0 followed Asiwaju Tinubu with rapt attention and knew he only had a slip.
“We can only tell mischief makers to look for better and productive things to do with their time,” Onanuga’s statement read.
Reacting, Kperogi said Onanuga’s defence only worsened the situation.
The Professor of Journalism and Emerging Media at Kennesaw State University, Georgia, said this in a comment titled, “Onanuga Puts Tinubu in More Trouble!”
In the comment posted on his Facebook page on Sunday, Kperogi said, “Bayo Onanuga, a storied journalist who’s now Tinubu’s presidential campaign spokesman, said Tinubu’s description of El-Rufai as someone who “turned a rotten situation into a bad one” was “a mere Freudian slip”.
“Ha! Does he not know what a Freudian slip is?
“A Freudian slip is a mistake that unintentionally reveals an uncomfortable truth.
“In other words, Tinubu actually secretly thinks El-Rufai turns rotten situations into bad ones but only unconsciously revealed it in an unguarded moment.
“So, he’s apologising for betraying the negative thoughts he has about El-Rufai that he’d successfully suppressed before now!”