Former Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has denied plotting to leave the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for a new party.
A collection of frontline publications over the weekend reported that Senator Tinubu alongside others are planning to break away from APC and join with others to establish a mega political party
Senator Tinubu played pivotal role in the formation of the APC and the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential election after three failed attempts.
But his political clout has been increasingly curtailed as forces within the party realign ahead for the 2019 election.
Senator Tinubu openly demanded the resignation of the party’s chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, after his candidate for the Ondo State governorship election lost to a candidate supported by Oyegun and President Buhari.
Reacting to a report by Punch on Sunday, Senator Tinubu said on Monday he was not quitting the party as claimed by the newspaper.
He denied that he was partnering with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, also an APC chieftain, and the Ahmed Markafi faction of Peoples Democratic Party, to form a mega party.
In a statement made available online and sourced by National Daily Senator Tinubu said
“This is a party I laboured with others to build.”
“We would not abandon it for another. Millions of Nigerians who voted are watching and praying.”
Senator Tinubu has faced what appears to be an increasingly hostile political climate in the ruling party.
Last week, the winner of the Ondo gubernatorial polls, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu, who he bankrolled his gubernatorial quest in 2012 dismissed him as not more than a state level APC leader. He was explaining his refusal to include Mr. Tinubu’s name in his victory speech.
Senator Tinubu did not lose only in Ondo State.
Long before the election that held two weeks ago, his political partner, James Faleke, a meeting of the Federal House of Representatives who he supported to replace Chief Abubakar Audu who died while the election was ongoing lost out too, as did those for the leadership positions of the National Assembly.
But despite his apparent frustration in the party, one of Tinubu’s loyalists, Senator Adesoji Akanbi, a Senator representing Oyo South, said “Asiwaju will not leave APC which he built; he is a veteran fighter and he is going to fight from within.”
In his tweets Monday, the former Lagos governor said he would not “engage in destructive pettiness.”
“In our Journey to national betterment, plans and policies will be made, then amended. Mistakes will occur and then corrected,” he said.
“Achievements will be had and replicated. Through it all, I, Asiwaju will remain true to the progressive ideals that fueled the creation of APC.
“I have devoted my political life to achieve what has been achieved. My heart is too much of the people and my mind too fixed on establishing positive historic Legacies, rather than engage in destructive pettiness.
“This government, APC, is for the betterment of the people and the national purpose is bigger and more important than any individual’s desires.”