The spokesperson, Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Organisation, Daniel Bwala, has faulted Bola Tinubu’s outing at the Chatham House in London, accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC) flagbearer of not honouring press invites in Nigeria.
Tinubu was in Chatham on Monday where he reeled out his plans for Nigeria and also cleared the air pertaining to his age, and qualifications. During the outing, the former Lagos governor delegated some of his associates to answer questions posed to him; a move Bwala says does not augur well.
During his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, Bwala likened Tinubu’s inability to attend presidential town hall events and media briefings to adjudication of responsibility.
“About education, if they are asking you questions about individuals that are older than you after you have made the intervention, you can say, ‘I want ABC to add further.’
“What he is doing is that he is saying, ‘Nigerians, I want you to vote 5, 10 or 12 of us. And a man who does not have regard and respect for the freedom of the press – look at the constitution, the freedom of the press is as important as fundamental human rights.
“He has abdicated the responsibility of appearing before the Nigerian press, but he went to what he called the rest of the world to appear before them,” he said.
While several reactions have trailed the Chatham House outing including claims that Tinubu gaffed during the event, his associates have defended him, accusing top contenders like Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) of doing so.
“No human being is immune to gaffes. That does not translate to one’s capacity to rule,” a member of the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Dele Alake, said hours after the London event.
“Just a few days ago, Datti Ahmed, the Vice-Presidential candidate of the Labour Party committed a great gaffe.
“Atiku committed a gaffe in Kaduna when he said they should vote for him because he is a northerner…If it was Tinubu that made that, all heavens would have come down.
“In fact, Obi is noted for false statistics, anybody knows that…So, there is really nothing to clear about that. Asiwaju is a human being like every other person,” Alake said.
