Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress
(APC), has dismissed the threat posed by Atiku Abubakar, who is the
presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
After meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, Tinubu
was asked if he is jittery about the strategy meeting convened by Atiku
in Dubai, to unseat Buhari.
“We don’t fear. Whether it is in the jungle, or it is in Dubai or it
is in Abu Dhabi, people are free to meet and strategise in anyway they
want but we are not going back to the illusion of the PDP.
“It is not possible, Nigerians will not do that. They say slow and
steady wins the race. We inherited that from our forefathers and
knowledgeable people. We can’t go back to the pit that we inherited for
16 years. They can strategise from anywhere but a leopard cannot change
it skin,” he told State House correspondents.
He said the meeting with Buhari was about “the nation, the country, our people, peace, stability and economic progress”.
Asked if he was in support of the call for Adams Oshiomhole’s removal
as APC national chairman, Tinubu said: “No. We all have to respect
party supremacy. You were all here when we had the congress, we elected
the new executives, the convention we had it, the NEC was formed and we
surrendered to avoid conflict, to avoid domination, to avoid abuses of
power, we surrendered our rights, all rights to the national working
committee headed by Adams Oshiomhole.
“That the national working committee should set up electoral bodies
to supervise various state congresses and elections. We signed for it.
So, if it is not in our individual favour, so be it. We gave three
options: consensus, where there is no consensus because if you are more
than two or three and you cannot agree to one candidate, you go to the
next level.
“The next level is the stakeholders’ delegate election and you have
to be supervised by the national working committee of the party,
national election committee of the party. That shows party supremacy.
“We had the freest option, the less cumbersome is to open direct
primary, line up and count the number, 1,2,3. If you win, you win and if
you fail, go home. Then appeal committee was set up to listen to all
appeals, internal mechanism for conflict resolution. It was there, you
cannot turn round against that, you cannot turn against all of that.
“No. Party is supreme, party must be respected, abuses will not do it
and anger will not do it. It is party politics, somebody will win and
somebody will lose… too bad.”