National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has blasted controversial businessman and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP senator-elect, Prince Buruji Kashamu.
Tinubu said he does not need praises from Kashamu, saying they are not in the same class.
Kashamu had in an advertisement praised Tinubu over the outcome of the 2015 general elections.
The APC national leader asked Kashamu, a PDP financier, to make a trip to the United States of America to answer drug charges against himself.
“Please keep your peace until you make your trip to the USA as a Senator-elect. Upon your return we can then have a conversation. We can then proceed with your repudiation of the PDP with a promise that you will stop corrupting and fouling the political system,” Tinubu said in a statement signed by his media adviser, Sunday Dare.
“Our attention has been drawn to the recently advertised letter by Mr. Buruji Kashamu to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in which he described Tinubu in superlative terms and as his role model. Kashamu needs to stop this cynical fawning. It will not work.
“The days of false adulation are gone in Nigerian politics. Fake praise singers like Kashamu will find that their particular craft is no longer in vogue. During this election cycle, their practice has dramatically turned from the way things are to how it used to be.
“Henceforth, there will be consequences for the positions a politician takes and the words they utter.
“Politicians will no longer be able to change direction and loyalties as if they were changing clothes. Those in politics must know that responsibility and accountability shall now follow them. One can no longer walk both sides of the street at the same time. In case Kashamu has not noticed, the politics of principle defeated the politics of posturing.
“That Kashumu undermined the democratic process by buying his victory does not mean he is part of the new Nigeria. He is merely an isolated vestige of a dying past. The man is an extinct species the realization of which will soon dawn on him.
“For him to liken himself to Bola Tinubu is for a small rut to call itself a mountain. For Kashamu to call Tinubu a role model is Kashamu’s admission that he does not know the meaning of the term. There are no grounds for comparison. There is only contrast. Tinubu has sacrificed years trying to bring democracy to Nigeria. He struggled in opposition to the powers that be. Without this, at times, lonesome fight and singular determination, the great change in Nigerian politics would not have happened as it did. TInubu is an architect of democracy. Kashamu is a failed demolisher of that which Tinubu has strived to build. Under Kashamu’s designs, our elections would be a wholly mercantile undertaking.
“Meanwhile, Kashamu has blown wherever the prevailing winds took him. He stood for nothing and sacrificed nothing except the people’s welfare.
“This same Kashamu rained insults on former President Obasanjo in a vicious campaign of calumny. Kashamu’s party, PDP sponsored defamatory documentaries full of lies and innuendos against me, General Muhammadu Buhari and other leaders of APC. Please keep your peace until you make your trip to the USA as a Senator-elect. Upon your return we can then have a conversation. We can then proceed with your repudiation of the PDP with a promise that you will stop corrupting and fouling the political system.
“That Kashamu would deign to compare himself with Tinubu is a distasteful insult to Tinubu and to anyone who knows Nigerian politics. If he has any sense of propriety, Kashamu should retract the corrupt missive and apologize for this latest lie to the public.”
“Kashamu in a factory of incoherent mischief aimed at achieving selfish goals. Before the election, Tinubu was his arch-enemy. Now he seeks to be the prodigal son returned home. This scam will fail.
“Kashamu may be prodigal but he is no political son of Tinubu. Kashamu’s political lineage tracks to people like Bode George and President Jonathan. He should direct his encomiums to these men who are his true role models. They need his contrived affections more than Tinubu does,’’ the statement added.
Rise above pettiness, Kashamu replies Tinubu
Reacting, Senator-elect, Buruji Kashamu said; ‘’My attention has been drawn to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reaction to the innocuous congratulatory messages that I sent to him and other leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
‘’First, I must say that I doubt if the statement was approved by him. However, if it was, I must state that I am taken aback by the unwarranted attacks against me as if we were still campaigning. It is unbecoming of someone of his stature and calibre.
‘’It is high time politicians and leaders rose above petty issues and raise the bar in constitutional democracy. We should not just be democrats in words but also in deeds. We should play politics without bitterness.
‘’ It is on record that no Nigerian politician has taken former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the cleaners even as a sitting President like Asiwaju Tinubu did. Yet, Chief Obasanjo forgave him. As for me and Baba Obasanjo, he remains my father and leader, just as I am his son and follower. At no time did I abuse Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.
‘’As a true party man, I campaigned vigorously for my party and its candidates. Now, the elections are over, and as a true sportsman, I thought I should congratulate those who won.
‘’ Short of any praise-singing, what I said in the congratulatory message that they chose to react to a week after it was published was that there was no way anyone can wish away the achievements of Asiwaju Tinubu in the nation’s political annals, particularly in Yoruba land.
Part of the message also reads: “Although I now belong to the opposition, your achievements transcend political divides and I am not ashamed to publicly acknowledge them.
“I salute your courage, commitment, doggedness, forthrightness and tenacity of purpose even in the face of daunting opposition and challenges.
“By your sheer wit and unwavering commitment to democratic ethos, true federalism and economic prosperity, you led the Alliance for Democracy (AD) from a one-party state to a regional party, and now a national party that is about to form the government at the centre.”
He therefore asked; ‘’How do these translate to praise-singing? Are they not facts of history that I merely adumbrated?
‘’He accused me of purchasing my election with money, the appropriate forum to prove that is the election petitions tribunal and not the pages of newspaper.
‘’ On the U.S case, I wish to state for the umpteenth time that the United States as the bastion of democracy and the Rule of Law would not lend itself to any form of abuse of the fundamental human rights of an innocent soul, especially one that has been arrested, tried and freed by its most trusted ally – the United Kingdom.
‘’ I am not running from any trial. All I have asked is for the relevant parties to follow due process – if they believe that I yet have a case to answer.
‘’ I believe in the supremacy of the almighty Allah who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish. He is the ultimate decider of the fate of all mortals. When He says yes, no man can say no and when He says no, no man can say yes!
‘’I stand with the almighty Allah Subhana Wa Tala. He is the protector of all humans. He is my refuge and shield. Let no one play God!’’ he said.
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