The former Minister said Professor John Paden is a man that is very comfortable with distorting the truth and telling lies. He is also a man that has been doing so for virtually all his adult life.
“It is nothing but an illusion: an extraordinary and fantastic fairy-tale built on a shady foundation of pseudo-intellectual clap-trap and garbage”.
He, therefore listed some misconception in the book:
- The first was that three names were sent to President Muhammadu Buhari for the position of Vice President, namely Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Yemi Osibanjo and Babatunde Raji Fashola in 2014 for the 2015 presidential election. This is false and it is simply an attempt to demean and belittle Tinubu and the role that he played in the whole exercise. The truth is that it was Tinubu and Tinubu alone that forwarded the only name that was given serious consideration for the Vice Presidential slot by President Buhari. That name was Professor Yemi Osibanjo.
- Tinubu never pressured Buhari to make him his Vice President as Paden has asserted because he had decided to drop that ambition long before then simply because the idea of a Muslim/Muslim ticket, which was originally on the cards, had eventually been jettisoned and rejected by the party due to public presssure and the division and outrage it attracted. If the Muslim/Muslim ticket had not been rejected Tinubu would have been the Vice Presidential candidate of the APC and no-one else, including his erstwhile protegee Babatunde Fashola, would have had a hope in hell of getting it.
- Another lie which was infinitely more dangerous and repugnant than the first, was that President Buhari has documents which are signed by President Jonathan which prove that the latter sought for what he described as “extra-budgetary funds”.
- He also suggested that other senior figures in the political and military configuration in our country committed serious crimes and indulged in damning acts of corruption without being specific or even providing details of those acts. Instead of doing so he suggested that the individuals concerned, which included President Olusegun Obasanjo, would have been prosecuted, brought to justice and called to account for their allegedly dastardly acts whilst in government if not for the fact that this could have had implications for the stability of the nation and national security.
Obasanjo, who is always quick off the mark and who was actually present at the launching of the book in Abuja as was Tinubu, responded in a measured manner by saying that there were “some insinuations” in it which he disagreed with. Frankly that was a cop out. Obasanjo was being far too polite and this was probably due to the fact that he had not read the whole book as as that time and he did not want to dampen the enthusiasm of the biographer, upset the President or ruin the occasion.
Femi, please answer this simple question on behalf of Buhari. Did Buhari ever read the book or its manuscript before publication? If he did, why blame the author who could have been corrected by Buhari.
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