Taiwo Amodu – Abuja
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, from Delta State, Chief Ayiri Emami, has offered an insight into why certain elements in the Presidential Villa tagged as a cabal are working to undermine the All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Speaking recently in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, Senator Tinubu had attributed the ongoing fuel scarcity and non-availability of the New Naira Notes to part of an orchestrated plot to frustrate his ambition.
Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, at a live Channels TV morning programme, Sunrise Daily, spoke in a similar vein alleging that a certain cabal in the Presidency whose favoured candidate lost out in the APC presidential convention where Tinubu emerged as standard bearer were the arrowhead of the plot to sabotage the APC presidential candidate.
Addressing newsmen at the weekend in Abuja, Chief Ayiri, who incidentally is the
Director Special Duties (4), APC Presidential Campaign Council said the cabal in the Villa wanted a pliable candidate, not a strong-willed and experienced member of the party to succeed President Buhari.
The APC chieftain maintained that they are afraid of a successor with a strong social and political network and with the capacity to correct the error in governance.
He said: “Let me use myself as an example. Even in our small community. If you know your right and you know what you are doing and you want to lead, many people will come after you.
“Because a lot of people don’t want somebody that understands the system to lead because all they know is how to manipulate. Asiwaju knows the inner workings of governance. I am not saying that he knows it all.
“So you will see every day all kinds of battles or kind of blackmail, or kind of way to stop him and that is how I see Asiwaju. He knows a lot about governance, he knows what to do to make sure that this place works. And if it works, there are persons there doing dubious things who would not be able to do it again. So, if such a person is to take over, it won’t be an easy battle because they know he knows the inner workings of government and can’t be manipulated.”
The APC chieftain noted that with the revelations coming from the APC governors meeting last Friday with President Buhari it is now clear to Nigerians that the Naira notes design did not enjoy the buy-in of the APC-led administration at all levels.
“They are not policies of the APC at all because if they are the policies of the APC, everybody would be involved. These are policies of some few persons to sabotage. Why introduce such policies during the election?”
Asked to comment on the perceived indifference of President Buhari to the APC Presidential candidates campaign, Chief Emami told newsmen that it was not indicative of any lack of commitment or a cold war between Tinubu and Buhari.
“To me, even his own election, it was other people that were actually championing his campaign. So, I just feel that that is his normal style. All humans are not the same. Tinubu is a workaholic, during 2014/2015, he did that.
“At a time, even during the primary somebody that was contesting, like President Buhari said I don’t have money to give to the delegates. For example, if he was not the one contesting, people would have said this man is a wicked man.
“Then, he was the one contesting and he could make that kind of statement in public while canvassing for votes at the campaign ground. To me, it is his lifestyle, even if he is supporting you, it is not the type that comes out to the public and says it.
“But what we’re trying to see is that those saboteurs within should please retreat. Let’s go into a proper contest. I don’t see any problem. To me, I know that Buhari is supporting us because he had said it publicly and that is one Muslim man that I believe that once he swears by the Quran, he stands by it.”
