9th NASS: No Ulterior Motive In Backing APC’s, Buhari’s Position, Says Tinubu

All Progressives Congress national stalwart, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has said all he has done in respect of the impending election of presiding officers of the National Assembly is to support the APC’s and President Muhammadu Buhari’s position.

Tinubu in a statement on Sunday by his Media Office signed by Tunde Ramon, said he had no ulterior motives in so doing,

According to him, all his mind, heart and efforts are focused on backing the APC and President Buhari in achieving their shared vision of a flourishing economy and a prosperous people.

The APC leader was responding to news reports that he was meddling in the APC’s nomination process to National Assembly leadership positions in order to position himself for a presidential run in 2023.

Furthermore, Asiwaju said he would have committed a terrible blunder by navigating against the President’s position.

He said those who cast aspersions at him were in reality bucking against the stated position of President Buhari.

He urged rumor-mongers to court greater discipline and wisdom, adding that there is no action a person can take that constitutes a political guarantee as to what may come four years from now.

He also dismissed the claim that having allies in the National Assembly leadership positions will greatly enhance someone’s presidential ambitions as spurious.

But the statement said “Asiwaju is neither inclined, nor sufficiently naïve, to take his eye off the present in the futile attempt to peer through the thick fog that is the future”.

While noting that the National Assembly positions are important to the fulfillment of the President’s agenda, he lamented that a painful lesson was learned in this respect in the last four years.

“With the Senate leadership usurped by regressive elitists that chamber constituted a brake on progress and good governance.

“The Senate leadership, and to a lesser degree the House leadership, stymied APC legislative initiatives while attempting to hoist noxious, reactionary and self-interested legislation on the nation,” he said.

Outgoing Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara and their ilk, he said, highjacked the budget process these past four years.

“National budgets were delayed and distorted as these actors repeatedly sought to pad budgets with pet projects that would profit them.

“Even worse, they cut funds intended to prosper projects that would have benefitted the average person. After four years of their antics halting the progress of government, we should do all we can to prevent a repeat of their malign control of the National Assembly,” he added.

He pointed out that in 2015, Senator Saraki finagled his way into the senate presidency.

“He planted himself at the apex of legislative power. But his actions as Senate president showed a man devoid of compassion for the average Nigerian. All he cared for was power and position.

“Soon he will be deprived of both. House Speaker Dogara has fared only slightly better. Occupying these positions is not a guarantee of future success. It is only a guarantee of present duty”.

He said: “Politics requires jockeying and maneuvering for influence to get the right people in the right positions. To be beneficial, politics must be tied to the greater purpose of governance such as with President Buhari’s goal to reform the national economy for the good of all Nigerians.

“In supporting the party and the president, Asiwaju has shown his commitment to achieving the president’s goals. Nothing more should be read into it”.