Bola Tinubu, a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says he is not responsible for a viral quote describing President Muhammadu Buhari as a religious bigot and an agent of destabilisation.

According to the content being shared across social media platforms, in 2003, Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos, described Buhari as “an agent of destabilization, ethnic bigot, and religious fanatic”.

“Muhammadu Buhari is an agent of destabilization, ethnic bigot, and religious fanatic who if given the chance would ensure the disintegration of the country. His ethnocentrism would jeopardize Nigeria’s national unity,” read the quote.

In 2003, Buhari contested the presidential election under the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) but lost to former President Olusegun Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

At the time, Tinubu, who was seeking a re-election as governor of Lagos, ran under the platform of Alliance for Democracy (AD) and won.

In a statement on Friday, Tunde Rahman, Tinubu’s media adviser, said the quote is fictitious, describing it as “the handiwork of merchants of hate and fake news”.

He said the former governor never made such statement about Buhari, appealing to the public to ignore it.

Rahman challenged those behind it to mention where Tinubu made the remark.

“This stuff has been going round and circulating as if it’s of a fact. It is not. It’s the handiwork of merchants of hate and fake news. Asiwaju Tinubu could not have said such of then GMB,” the statement read.

“Let’s dissect it: Yes Asiwaju and GMB as he then was were not in the same party in 2003. But they were not on each other’s path to warrant any hard feelings in the first instance. GMB was contesting for the presidency in 2003, Asiwaju was Lagos governor seeking re-election which he got. GMB was contesting against President Obasanjo.

“Truth is Asiwaju would even wish that GMB defeated the dictatorial President Obasanjo who ruled the country on his whims. Against a clear decision of the Supreme Court Obasanjo seized Lagos allocation and did many unthinkable. Asiwaju would not descend so low as to label anyone ethnic bigot or religious fanatic.

“These words are neither of him nor relate to him in any way. The agents of darkness who are bent on sowing seeds of discord at this time the nation is confronting challenges of insecurity and religious extremism should tell us when he uttered those words.

“Where did he speak? Was it a newspaper interview? Was it a public lecture? No source. No attribution. The merchants of fake news just did a fantastic quote to cause mischief and create discord. We should not allow them.”

Tinubu was right for calling Buhari a tribalist, religious fanatic, says Obasanjo

Eniola Akinkuotu, Abuja

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says All Progressives Congress stalwart, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was right to call President Muhammadu Buhari an ethnic bigot and religious fanatic in 2007.

Tinubu had while campaigning for the then candidate of the Action Congress, Atiku Abubakar, in 2007, described Buhari of the All Nigeria Peoples Party as an ethnic bigot.

Interestingly, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who is now the Minister of Information, was part of Atiku’s campaign team at the time and had lambasted Buhari for saying the late military dictator, General Sani Abacha, did not steal.

Both Tinubu and Mohammed are now members of Buhari’s campaign team after the merger of their respective parties.

In a statement on Sunday, Obasanjo made reference to Tinubu’s scathing attack on Buhari.

He wrote, “Bola Tinubu’s statement about Muhammadu Buhari in 2003 (2007) is fairly prophetic, ‘Muhammadu Buhari is an agent of destabilisation, ethnic bigot and religious fanatic who, if given the chance, would ensure the disintegration of the country. His ethnocentrism would jeopardize Nigeria’s national unity.’”

According to the content being shared across social media platforms, in 2003, Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos, described Buhari as “an agent of destabilization, ethnic bigot, and religious fanatic”.

BlackfireX:
Yoruba people and double mouth ehhhh

Maxymilliano:
Yesterday, it was Nuhu Ribadu, Today is Tinubu.

The rumor has been there for ages but he never debunked it, 2023 will be interesting as many more will deny their ancestors, just to be in Buhari's good book..


https://punchng.com/tinubu-was-right-for-calling-buhari-a-tribalist-religious-fanatic-says-obasanjo/

Rahman challenged those behind it to mention where Tinubu made the remark.

Buhari Is An Ethnic Bigot, Religious Fanatic – Bola Tinubu

Bola Tinubu, former Governor of Lagos State and leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, once described General Muhammadu Buhari as an agent of destabilization, ethnic bigot and religious fanatic who if given the chance would ensure the disintegration of the country, according to a Wikileaks transcript of a conversation between Tinubu and the US consul-general in 2003.

Tinubu disclosed this to the United States spy posing as the consul general – in a 2003 conversation- that Buhari should not be trusted due to his bigot tendencies. He pointed to Buhari’s tribalistic nature as potentially dangerous to the unity of Nigeria. In Tinubu’s summation, he stated: ‘Buhari and his ilk are agents of destabilization who would be far worse than Obasanjo.’ The conversation was recorded by the US Consul General and wired back to Washington DC for analysis. Of which, Wikileaks got a hold of the recorded transcripts and published the conversation.

[b]Section 6 (C) reads “Turning to the presidential contest, Tinubu disclosed that he does not like President Obasanjo because he contributed to the end of democracy in Nigeria during his tenure as a military president and is now benefiting from that history. That said, Tinubu admitted that he and his party, the Alliance for Democracy, must support Obasanjo. Southwest Nigeria is Yoruba land and the President is Yoruba. Tinubu’s party had no choice since it has not fielded a presidential candidate. Moreover, Obasanjo is the only candidate who stands a chance of blocking his rival, General Muhammadu Buhari, whose ethnocentrism would jeopardize Nigeria’s national unity. Buhari and his ilk are agents of destabilization who would be far worse than Obasanjo. Tinubu and many other governors are therefore implementing a strategy to re-elect Obasanjo, partly in an effort to prevent Sharia from spreading. Tinubu predicted that the President will follow his own course, if re-elected, since he will not need as many friends the second time around[/b].”

Oluneutral:
Then, Tinubu wasn't afraid of Buhari because he thought Buhari will never become Nigeria's president and hence, he wouldn't need anything from him, but now, he's now afraid of him because.......
1. He's afraid that, if he talk about Buhari anyhow, he may not hand over power to him in 2023.

2. He's afraid that, Buhari may dig out and prosecute him for his many corrupt practices, if he dare say anything bad about him.


He'll always deny this type of thing because he'll want to remain in Buhari's good book for a long time.