The South-West Agenda for Asiwaju (SWAGA 2023) says the book recently authored by All Progressives Congress chieftain, Bisi Akande, was not done in a bid to pressure President Muhammadu Buhari to support Tinubu’s reported 2023 presidential bid.
The Secretary of the group, Mr. Bosun Oladele, said this during a chat with The PUNCH on Thursday while reacting to the controversy generated by the book titled, ‘My Participations’.
In the book, Akande narrated how Buhari had in 2014 promised to make Tinubu his running mate in exchange for his support at the APC primaries only for Buhari to renege on his promise because he and Tinubu shared the same faith and a Muslim-Muslim joint ticket would not fly.
Several critics had alleged that the book was released ahead of the 2023 elections to pressure Buhari to redeem himself by supporting Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
In a chat with The PUNCH, however, Oladele said, “The question one should ask is ‘are there any lies told by Chief Akande in his book?’ If there are lies, those who feel so are free to respond. But if he has said the truth, is there a time or a time limit within which somebody must say the truth?
“Is there an ultimatum for the truth to be said? Whether he has blackmailed the President or not, that can only be left to the permutations of those who are playing negative politics. If you are talking of developmental politics and politics of principle, then Chief Akande is one of the champions.
The SWAGA secretary argued that while it was true that Tinubu would need Buhari’s support ahead of the elections, the people remained the most important factor.
He said Tinubu, therefore, did not need any book to boost his chances.
“The President who attended the book launch never gave any insinuation that he was being blackmailed. It was just an attempt to put recent history in proper perspective. Whoever has followed Chief Akande and his style of politics, anybody will know that he doesn’t care whose ox is gored and I don’t think he would care now that he is old,” he added. (Punch)
