I will not contest for presidency against Buhari- Tinubu

National Leader of APC, Bola Tinubu, says he will never contest for Presidency against President Buhari and he won't eever support anyone who
does. Tinubu said this in a statement while reacting to a newspaper report that he is gearing up to contest against President Buhari in the next
presidential election and that he has picked three possible running mates namely Sokoto state governor Aminu Tambuwal, Senator Abu Ibrahim and the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

In the statement released by his media aide, Tunde Rahman, Tinubu said the report was
cooked up just to create tension and division between him and President Buhari. He vowed never to contest for presidency against President Buhari nor will he support anyone who does.

“The story is a manufactured tale weaved by its authors to try to create division where there is none. Those who wrote this fantasy piece seek to place Asiwaju Tinubu at odds with President Buhari. Writing
such a baseless report is a very foul and wrong thing to do. As long as that patriotic and committed man named
Muhammadu Buhari holds and seeks to hold the mantle as our president, then Asiwaju Tinubu stands behind him in unwavering support and confidence.

Asiwaju Tinubu remains faithful to the mission of progressive reform and change
that President Buhari, he and the All Progressives Congress, APC, have started.

Tinubu was instrumental in the formation and success of the APC. His toil and efforts helped establish this government.
He is not one to tear down something he laboured so dutifully to build. Instead of
trying to convey the truth, the THISDAY report opted to gain false sensation by completely mocking the tenor of the brief
banter Asiwaju Tinubu had with journalists at the inauguration of Ondo State Governor
Oluwarotimi Akeredolu. When asked about future political office, Asiwaju said he could not discount that possibility if the nation called upon him for such service, provided, he emphasised, that all political
conditions were appropriate; particularly the office in question would have to be
vacant, even if it’s local government chairmanship. In our political lexicon, this
means the office is not held by a member of the APC in good standing. We all know
this. Moreover, if you really listen to his words, Asiwaju did not mention any office or any time-frame. The conditions he
mentioned may not become ripe for years to come and they might not pertain to the
presidency. In effect, all Asiwaju said was the position that any political figure would hold. As a politician, he cannot preclude
the possibility of running for office in the future because no man knows what the future will hold. To translate this general
statement of political reality into a tale that he is actively preparing for a 2019
presidential run is reckless in the extreme.

For that newspaper’s reporters to have engaged in this great leap of counterfeit logic means they purposefully bowed to
the pressure to create false headlines instead of following the ethics of their craft to follow the truth even if the truth is more pedestrian and less volatile than what the
reporters would have liked to hear. They have turned themselves into newsmakers
instead of remaining true to their calling of being neutral conveyors of events. Asiwaju
Tinubu has not held any planning meetings for any such presidential campaign and is not contemplating any such meetings. He has no present list of possible running mates because he has no present intention of running. The
headline also libels Asiwaju by asserting he was going to join the PDP. This is as shameless as a lie can be. Asiwaju is
acknowledged to be the intellectual father and the driving force behind the APC. It
makes no sense that he would abandon the party that he worked hard to build in order to enter the dilapidated building the PDP has become. Asiwaju worked for over 16 years to break the PDP yoke on the
nation. After breaking that yoke, it is not in his nature to voluntarily place it back on
our necks. Anyone who has followed his career, even his staunchest critics, knows
Asiwaju for his partisan consistency. He is not a party hopper. He is loyal and sticks
with the party to which he belongs. After fighting for so many years to elevate his
party to the position of national leadership, he would not give that away in order to
join with those who blame him for their currently bleak political circumstance. We understand all too well the genesis of this
false news report. For their own reasons, THISDAY has joined with those who seek to put Asiwaju Tinubu at odds with our President. This scam will fail. Asiwaju supports and stands behind President
Buhari. He wishes the president well and that he returns soon. Whether the president is here or away, he has the full loyalty of Asiwaju Tinubu. President Buhari can rest assured on this point: Asiwaju Tinubu will never contest against him nor
will he support anyone who does.”