President Muhammadu Buhari has said Saturday that a national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Ahmed Bola Tinubu, is not plotting against him.
The president, through a statement Saturday night by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, also denied that the crux of that report that his government has placed the former Lagos Governor under security watch.
The presidency was reacting to a report by The Sun newspaper that Mr. Tinubu was under watch over an alleged plot against President Muhammadu Buhari for purportedly ignoring his nominees for ministerial positions.
Describing the report as “false, baseless and sensational” the presidential aide also stressed that the relationship between Buhari and Tinubu could not be better than it was at the moment.
The Presidency is not aware of any plots by the APC national leader against President Buhari, he said.
According to the statement, “The attention of the Presidency has been drawn to a false and sensational story by a leading newspaper to the effect that a pillar of the governing party, the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is “under security watch over alleged plot against Buhari.”
“Nigerians are hereby advised to ignore this story because it is false and baseless.
We wish to confirm without any equivocation that the Asiwaju is not of any particular interest to any arm of the security services. The relationship between him and the President can not be better than it is at the moment.
“According to the perverted logic of the newspaper, the respected leader of the APC is into a plot against the leader of the country. The presidency is unaware of any such plots against the President.
“I got on the phone a short while ago with General Babagana Munguno, (Rtd), the National Security Adviser and the Director General of the SSS, Lawal Daura who both dismissed the published reports as acts of pure mischief. They are not aware of the Asiwaju being on any kind of watch.
“It would appear that a competition is on between two or three newspaper establishments on how best to breach the excellent relationship between the pillars of our party and government.
“So far, they have not made a headway and there is no indication that they will succeed in the future. It suffices to say that such reports, written without fairness and balance can only take away from whatever is left of the credibility of these newspapers. The general public is hereby advised to ignore them on these reports.”
THE SUN’S REPORT:
Security agencies have launched a surveillance ring around a leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and others, including some members of the National Assembly, over an alleged plot against President Muhammadu Buhari.
The plot, which presidency sources said is not unconnected to the decision of President Buhari to dump several nominees submitted by some party leaders and political godfathers for ministerial appointments, has led to a move to mend fences between the two major contending forces in the Senate.
Intelligence reports had revealed that some state governors, party leaders and political godfathers, whose nominees were dumped by the President for his preferred candidates, have begun to “unleash their goons in a well coordinated media campaigns and groups’ protests against Mr President’s choice of ministerial nominees”
Saturday Sun gathered that of particular interest to some intelligence agencies keeping a tab on the plot “is the decision of an APC leader in the South-West to jet out of the country the moment he realised that he could not push through his ministerial nominees, only to be coordinating attacks against the President from his base outside the country.”
A top official in one of the nation’s intelligence agencies leading investigations into the alleged plot toldSaturday Sun on condition of anonymity, “because the investigation is still at the preliminary stage”, that “a particular political godfather who has been spearheading the campaign to remove the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki has suddenly turned round to be reaching out to Senators in his (Saraki’s) camp to mend fences so as to form a joint force to launch an attack against the President.”
“We are following all of these clues and leads including promises by the same person to help crush the criminal charges against a leading Senator. This brand of politics will in no way help the ruling party and the nation. One man must not have his way in all cases and in every arrangement”, the source added.
Though the source did not specifically mention Tinubu in the chat, the APC chieftain, however, fits into all the descriptions. It was also gathered that the presidency is already bracing up for the emerging development.
It was not clear as at press time whether the Saraki camp will accept the peace deal being offered by the party leader and support the alleged plot against the President coming at a time when the relationship between Buhari and Saraki appears to be coming on track.
A close associate of Tinubu, who pleaded for anonymity, however, told Saturday Sun that indeed the APC leader was badly hurt by the rejection of his ministerial nominees by Buhari, he would, however, not have a hand in pulling down “a house he almost single-handedly built with his efforts and resources.”
Saturday Sun had in an exclusive report before the release of the ministerial nominees reported the decision by President Buhari to dump over 73 names submitted to him by state governors, APC leaders and political godfathers to draw up a list of his own choice of ministerial nominees. (The Sun Oct 10, 2015)
