Atiku/Okowa campaign react as Afenifere endorses Tinubu

Dr. Daniel Bwala, the Presidential Spokesman for the Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation, has pointed out a flaw in the Pan-Yoruba socio-political group Afenifere’s endorsement of All Progressive Congress presidential candidate Bola Tinubu.

We reported that the Afenifere leader Pa Reuben Fasoranti and several South West leaders endorsed Tinubu on Sunday. Tinubu received their support during a meeting with the organization’s leaders at Fasoranti’s residence in Akure, the capital of Ondo State.

Some members of the group, including Pa Ayo Adebanjo and Chief Sola Ebiseni, were,h however, not present at the meeting.

In response to the endorsement, Bwala said in a statement that the absence of Adebanjo and others indicated that the endorsement was flawed.

He also chastised the Afenifere leaders for inviting only Tinubu to an event where they could have hosted frontline candidates and listened to their plans for the country.

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“In what seemed like the crawling of a rat at night to steal meat from the pot, Tinubu paid a strange visit to Pa Fatoramti; strange because it was not an organized set of the usual meeting of the highly respected Afenifere; needless to say the leader of the group Pa Adebanjo and the secretary were obviously absent when he went to in a Gestapo manner.

“First off, the Afenifere we know has through their leader made known their position as to who they support and it was certainly not Tinubu. Secondly, if it were a meeting seeking to know the right person to support or endorse amongst the candidates it ought to have at least invited the leading candidates to hear their take on what plans they have for the country that caters to the interests of Afenifere.”

Tinubu was also described as a “tribal evangelist” by Bwala. He described the former Lagos State governor’s remark at the meeting that he “would bring the trophy home” as “clear ethnic insinuations and divisive remarks.”

“So to Tinubu, the race to become the president of Nigeria is a trophy to be won and taken to his ethnic enclave. He was not only wrong in his tribal insinuation that not a single Yoruba opposed the ticket, but he also lied because lots of Yorubas took strong objections to the same faith ticket and to his divisive and religious politics.

“To say that his ticket is supported by all Yorubas is, to say the least disingenuous, false, and condemnable.

“Tinubu has made no secret about his tribal championship and utter disregard for other ethnic people in southern Nigeria. This to say the least is sad and terribly troubling and Nigerians should rise and condemn this rhetoric at the polls.”