Apparently sensing that he will not be picked as the preferred candidate of President Muhammadu Buhari, former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, has began accusing the Nigerian leader of betrayal.
Mr Tinubu, a presidential aspirant of the All Progressive Congress (APC) made the accusation on Thursday while addressing delegates of the ruling party in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
He had teamed up with the North-West politician in 2015 to deny then President Goodluck Jonathan a second term in office by spearheading the merger of regional parties to oust the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which held sway from 1999.
Mr Buhari in a recent meeting with state governors of the APC announced his plan to handpick his successor and appealed to the state helmsmen to support him since they were doing same in their respective domains.
What that meant is that the issue of consensus mode of primary which played out during the election of the ruling party’s National Working Committee (NWC) in March will definitely play out again and this has clearly shown that the former Lagos governor who usually handpick who should preside over the affairs of the South-West state is not favoured.
He has rejected the consensus option, calling for the contest to be thrown open, a tensive situation that has led the party to shift its convention where the flag bearer is expected to emerge to next week.
Addressing the delegates while Governor Umar Ganduje of Kano State who sat behind him watched, Mr Tinubu accused the president of betrayal, recalling how Mr Buhari tried and failed thrice in his bid to emerge the country’s leader democratically until he assured him of his support.
“If not for me that stood behind Buhari, he wouldn’t have become the President,” Mr Tinubu, who spoke in Yoruba in a trending video clip seen by TODAY POLITICS, explained. “He tried the first time, he failed. The second time, he failed. The third, he failed.
“He even wept on national television and vowed never to contest again but I went to meet him in Kaduna and told him he will run again, I will stand by you and you will win, but you must not joke with Yorubas and he agreed.
“Since he became the President, I have never gotten ministerial slots. I didn’t collect any contract, I have never begged for anything from him. It is the turn of Yoruba, it is my turn,” he added.