By Abiodun Alade, @biodunpen

National leader of the All Progressives Congress and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has denied allegations raised by online journal, Sahara Reporters in its report titled: “Threat of perjury trial: How Jonathan Blackmailed Bola Tinubu before 2011 Presidential election”, threatening legal action if the publishers fail to issue a retraction.

Tinubu Media Organisation has also confirmed his interest in the Vice President slot of his party.

Tinubusahara TinubusaharaA human rights lawyer and activist, Olatunji Abayomi, has demanded a retraction arguing that the report is not only false, but defamatory.

“We demand a statement acknowledging your error of trying to damage our client’s reputation as well as a statement regretting the same.

“Please this matter must be attended to immediately otherwise you run the risk of multiple civil suits all over the world in defence of our client, “Abayomi wrote.

The lawyer said the report attempted to defame Tinubu’s reputation by spreading old, utterly false gossip in hope of wrongly destroying his prospects, adding that there was no charge at the Federal High Court numbered FHC/ABJ/CR/04/2011, nor was Tinubu tried or convicted.

Abayomi noted that the United States Embassy, in its February 4, 2003 response to an inquiry by the Inspector-General of Police, stated that there is “no criminal arrest, records, wants or warrants for Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”

“If you had checked readily available records, you would have found that he travels periodically to the United States. Had he been engaged in criminal wrongdoing, he would have been ineligible for entry into that country,” Abayomi wrote.

The said story generated reactions on the social media, as the Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on New Media, Reno Omokri, urged Tinubu to come clean on the issue.

In a related development, Senator Bola Tinubu has confirmed his interest in the vice presidential ticket of the APC, stating that governance had little to do with religion, region or rumour but more with vision and competence. This was disclosed in a statement by his media aide, Sunday Dare.

Mr. Dare rubbished objection to Tinubu involvement in the race based on his same religion with Buhari, his alleged involvement in drug-trafficking and alleged tainted academic achievements.

Full text of the statement:

Season Of the Wrong Knives-Sahara Reporters Mis-Reports

Tinubu-newThe unfolding smear campaign against former Lagos governor and leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu is no surprise. It had been in the works for years since the Jonathan led government realized that Tinubu commanded a powerful political followership. The successful merger and birth of the APC posed the most potent threat to the PDP and Tinubu an architect of the merger has become a marked man.

The thought of a Buhari-Tinubu ticket confounds the PDP hierarchy and their crisis-battered president. That Tinubu might be nominated as General Buhari’s running mate also incenses the small element within the APC who joined the party not for its progressive vision but to exploit its platform to press forward their vision of themselves. Having failed at halting General Buhari’s bid, the PDP disinformation machine has thrown itself into overdrive trying to stymie the selection of Tinubu. Sadly, some elements within the APC – elevating their personal ambition over party and national interests — have lent themselves to this endeavor.

During the Nazi takeover of Germany, madman Adolf Hitler became jealous of those within his own party who showed independent thought and who would not allow themselves to be bent just so he could satisfy his megalomania. Outraged, he engineered a purge executing the lot of them. This bloody scheme became known as the “night of the long knives.” In Nigeria, we have entered the “season of the wrong knives.”

The recent report on one of the online news websites on the allegations bordering on his academic qualification is not new. What is new is how desperate they have become to stir up a new controversy using an old lie. In the past these allegations were successfully rebutted. Recent attempt to present them as fresh allegations will not go unchallenged.

The online report, published by Sahara Reporters claims that Tinubu withdrew his support for the ACN in the 2011 election due to blackmail by the president. It is rather odd that this report colors Tinubu as the villain. If the report were true, he would be a victim. President Jonathan and his administration would be guilty of the high crime of extortion. This tiny consideration seemed not to dawn on the authors of this scurrilous piece; so fixated on stabbing Tinubu, they implicate their own boss in wrongdoing. So eager to please their master, Jonathan’s mindless men further ensnare him.

If Tinubu had been scared off in 2011, it would make no sense for him to spearhead the formation of the APC against the same president. If the president had such control over TInubu why didn’t the president use that leverage earlier to scuttle the APC before it gained a strong position in the political space? The story makes no logical sense.

The particular accusations in the story further reveal the malice of mind of those peddling it. They claim Tinubu did not attend Chicago State University. They cite as their evidence a letter from the US Consulate. But if you read the letter carefully, the surname stated is “TinubO” not “TinubU.” If the University did a computer check on that name, the check would come up empty. The culprits likely misspelled the last name so that the name search would reveal nothing. This is clever but immoral; it is a wrong knife.

Meanwhile, Tinubu has genuine documents and pictures showing him as an award-winning student at the school. Nigeria should be proud that one of its own graduated an honor student from an American university over thirty years ago when that was more of a rarity than it is today. Instead, his detractors want to pretend he never set foot on campus.

As late as August 2012, Tinubu visited the university and was given a special reception and a tour by the school’s president. This would not have been done for a stranger. It would have been done for a distinguished alumnus.

After graduation, Tinubu landed jobs with two well established international companies, one the accounting firm Deloitte and Touche and the other, ExxonMobil. Such companies investigate an applicant’s academic background. If he had not attended school, these companies would not have hired him. He would not have excelled in them but he did.

The rumor about drug running is the lowest form of calumny. He has never been arrested, charged or indicted for any drug-related crime. Had any such suspicion existed, the American government would not have granted him political asylum during the Abacha era. Under American law, asylum cannot attach to anyone who has broken or offended that same law.

Moreover, Tinubu travels frequently to the states. This means he has a visa. American law prohibits visa issuance to anyone reasonably suspected of drug dealing, let along being convicted of the same.

If I were Tinubu, I would place a wager with the PDP. He should offer to fly to America if the PDP would also send Mr. Kashamu. Both can fly to Chicago. Then he should bet the PDP who would return to Nigeria first. We all know the answer.

There is a vicious campaign to deter Tinubu from the APC ticket; this campaign is being run from the PDP’s basement. They fear him. They cannot assail his competence and experience. He has been an able senator and governor. They cannot assail his commitment to democracy. He has personally sacrificed more for democracy than all the PDP hierarchy combined. They fear his ability to campaign, to get out the vote and to protect that vote, especially in the southwest because they know that is the pivotal region where the election will likely be won or lost.

These assailants desperately try to scuttle Tinubu’s potential candidacy. In that the truth offers them no solace, they resort to lies. They seek to ambush the man under cover of innuendo and untruth. But their aim is off and their knives are wrong. In the end, what they use to injure him will turn to point against them. Such is the outcome when one engages in malice.

Thus, they seek to prevent a person who may be controversial yet he is perhaps Nigeria’s most able and versatile politician, strategist and policy maker. For perhaps the most gifted politician of his time not to seek national office is a luxury a nation in this dire circumstance can ill afford. In the end, governance has little to do with religion, region or rumor. It has to do with vision and competence. The wrong knives will never be able to cut that truth.



http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/12/sahara-reporters-tinubu-threatens-legal-action-wants-to-become-buharis-running-mate/

Thought e-pdp warriors said Sahara report is on APC's payroll.

Things FALL APART...

YOU DONT NEED TO BE A GRADUATE TO KNOW THAT; *Am not going to vote for someone who once had no shoes and school bags as a student but now has lots of shoes and bags but made students go on strike for about Eight ( months. *NEVER, am not going to vote for someone who could not rescue about 230 school girls but still has plan to rule a country of about 200million people.

*NEVER, am not going to vote for a grown up man who took advice from a 17year old girl (pakistan little girl) before he could make his own decision.

*NEVER, Am not going to vote for a black commander of Army who brought white marine soldiers to do his job for him and still yet nothing was done.

*NEVER, Am not going to vote for a government who could not provide job for my elder sister who has a Master Degree.

*NEVER, am not going to vote for a man that Boko Haram are killing his own people everyday and has no plan on how to stop the killing but can’t wait a minute when military took over power in Burkina Faso, he went there to stop the killing over there in Burkina Faso but could not stop the killing in his country.

*Finally am not going to vote for anybody who needs One Billion American Dollar to solve an Insurgency (Boko Haram) while the ordinary man on the street no even get (#100) hundred naira to eat.

You can scold me for speaking the truth, dont forget the truth is bitter. All we need is CHANGE and nothing else…. Please we all need to get our (PVC) Permanent Voters Card to vote this Clueless, Visionless and Wicked Government of Goodluck Ebola Jonathan (GEJ) out power. Another four years of Jonathan will be doom for us. Please dont sell your vote cause the money they will offer you can not sustain you for another four years. We should all stand up and say Capital NO to Jonathan.

Tinubu Media Organisation has also confirmed his interest in the Vice President slot of his party. - Vanguard

Firefire:
[size=14pt]No smoke without fire, Tinubu inordinate ambition and greed is aiming for oil money after plundering Lagos State & SW income.

[/size]

My people can you now see that APC is fake and full of desperadoes

This is the taste of what to expect if Buhari wins the Presidential Election. Barrage of litigation and indefinite detention of critics

I have consistently warned Nairalanders that though many may recent or criticise President Jonathan for his lack of charisma, some for regional neglect, some for the so-called corruption perception index and many more.

The citizens are yawning for change and revolution but the alternative in the offing as we speak is dangerous to democracy and only offers cosmetic regime change with attendant lies.


The grounds on which General Buhari is being promoted as the alternative choice are not only shaky. On the sanctity of life, Buhari is controlled by impulse and blind rage to the extent that he became satanic in his cruelty.

The existence of free media in Nigeria will be in danger and Nairaland will be the worst hit if you vote Buhari and usher in his godfathers and godchildren into power (office).

Everything na plan, APC stop lying

Free media will be a thing of the past if Bola and his team gets to power.

why

Firefire:
Things FALL APART...

Nope....just shows Sahara Reporters is in no-one's pockets.

Court case should be interesting....

lol nice

politics shaaa [url=gidihub..com/2014/12/dont-let-guy-waste-your-most-eligible.html=] Don't Let a Guy Waste Your Most Eligible Years ( must read )[/url]

Good


#TakeBackNigeria...#‎iNewNigeria‬

When a POOR Man Steal they say He's a THIEF, when a BIG Man Steal they say He's CORRUPT. The difference between CORRUPTION and STEALING does not Exist; CORRUPTION is Stealing, THIEVERY is Stealing, but to Clothe it with some Toga of Responsibility, they say those who Steal at the Top are CORRUPT and those who Steal below are THIEVES. A Thief is a Thief whether He's at the Top or He's Below.

Walk the Walk with ME #iStand4NewNigeria.

Get Your PVC....and Let's #TakeBackNigeria.

#iThink | #iBelieve | #iNewNigeria

~ Adeoye "iNewNigeria" Abiola, 17/12/2014.

If I were Tinubu, I would place a wager with the PDP. He should offer to fly to America if the PDP would also send Mr. Kashamu. Both can fly to Chicago. Then he should bet the PDP who would return to Nigeria first. We all know the answer

But between why Him no go rest untop this sudden interest na! Why him wan turn strong issue for winches for the PDPigsss to get chance see place suck blood off APC na! Make him park well joor.. The last thing we need now is the ish of a VP choice giving the party issues.. It's taking too long to pick a running mate self, makes us look unserious.. After the long wahala of choosing the right wind of change en! Ti ogiri o ba la enu! Alangba with doffed hat and nose like Pinocchio no go get chance moonwalk inside am na.. Ha! It's taking too long oo

The politics of Nigeria is becoming more interesting.

#GEJ TILL 2099 A.D

gidistar:
ok

mistabiola:
Good

trwill0412:
Aiit

The force is strong with these ones.....

(The force of the Sith....)

Only a Sith can make such comments....

They lie a lot.

Hahahahahaha I laff in Kuvuki

But this is not fair na

bushdoc9919:


Nope....just shows Sahara Reporters is in no-one's pockets.

Court case should be interesting....

Bros, you will soon hear many explosion between their marriage (APC+BAT+SHR)

Awon dindinrin yen daa? tiwon sowipe Aja APC ni Sahara reporter.

Sahara reporter should beg naaa.....abii you wan fall the house wey you built

remenber you ve fought a big fight for this country especialy those hidden Lies of present rulling party, as a result of that leading to their loyalist to label you as opposition paper.


APC!!! Change...
lol......dnt change your wife ooo...lolz.

Ngwakwe:
This is the taste of what to expect if Buhari wins the Presidential Election. Barrage of litigation and indefinite detention of critics

I have consistently warned Nairalanders that though many may recent or criticise President Jonathan for his lack of charisma, some for regional neglect, some for the so-called corruption perception index and many more.

The citizens are yawning for change and revolution but the alternative in the offing as we speak is dangerous to democracy and only offers cosmetic regime change with attendant lies.


The grounds on which General Buhari is being promoted as the alternative choice are not only shaky. On the sanctity of life, Buhari is controlled by impulse and blind rage to the extent that he became satanic in his cruelty.

The existence of free media is in Nigeria will be in danger and Nairaland will be the worst hit if you vote Buhari and usher in his godfathers and godchildren into power (office).

TRUE.

Jagaban himself.

Hmmmm

But I thought Sahara... were Team APC?

ok now.

bushdoc9919:




The force is strong with these ones.....

(The force of the Sith....)

Only a Sith can make such comments....

Next time , na page 2 you go land ... Bush doctor