Ondo guber: I have right to support candidate of my choice, Tinubu tells Abayomi

National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, has said that he reserved the democratic right to support any of the party’s aspirants gunning for the Ondo State governorship seat in the forthcoming poll.

He said nobody, whatsoever, had that right to deny him and other APC members the right to talk on who should the party present for the race in the best interest of Ondo people.

Tinubu, who is a former governor of Lagos State, said this on Sunday in reaction to a letter written to him by an aspirant, Dr Tunji Abayomi, who accused him of supporting another aspirant, in spite of the close relationship both had together.

The APC national leader, while describing the letter by Abayomi, who is a lawyer and an activist, as woefully misplaced and inappropriate, said he wondered if Abayomi, the complainant, would have raised a complain if the support he asked for had been given to him.

Tinubu, while frowning on the letter, reminded Abayomi that “one cannot seek equity without having done equity.

“In writing the letter, you appear to have been bitten by a bug that often blinds the objectivity of a man. You have been bitten by an ambition that you fear you shall not be able to realise.

“In your pursuit of office, you have sought my support and influence. When you sought that support, you thought it proper and democratic to do so. If I had signalled my support for you, I am sure that you would never have written this letter alleging that I was undermining the democratic will of the people. You would have been pleased with me, I suppose.

“However, because that support has not been forthcoming, you fear that the support you wanted may now go to a rival candidate. In your judgment, my support for you would have been democratic. Should I support another, then, that same support is considered dictatorial and unfair,” Tinubu said.

“Your position is more undemocratic and unfair than what you accuse me of. Your words attack me for being undemocratic when in reality your heart attacks me for not giving you what you want,” he said.

The former governor, therefore, called on the APC governorship aspirant to shift focus from him as he had no vote to deliver, saying his attention rather should be how to fight for majority votes and support of his people in Ondo in the coming governorship poll.

“Instead of fighting me who is but one man with no vote, you should be fighting for votes and support. Your letter to me was woefully misplaced and inappropriate. Still, I wish you the best and may democracy and the people’s will prevail above all else,” Tinubu said.

On the claim by Abayomi that he was the one that prevailed on Tinubu to throw his political weight behind President Muhammadu Buhari as APC presidential candidate, Tinubu said nothing like that happened, saying he trusted his own political counsel more than Abayomi’s and that he had numerous other advisors whose advice he weighed more than the lawyer-cum activist.