Former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu has changed the mode of his ongoing campaign, amidst plans by President Muhammadu Buhari to work with governors to pick his successor.
Mr Tinubu, who is one of the leading aspirants for the presidential ticket of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, spoke in Ogun State on Thursday.
Speaking in Yoruba, Tinubu said for over 25 years, he provided a political refuge for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar when he was chased out of the PDP by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He narrated how he offered his ACN platform to Nuhu Ribadu in 2011.
While speaking, Mr Tinubu also directed his jab at his host, Governor Dapo Abiodun, saying “this one (Mr Abiodun), would he have become governor if I had not backed him?”
Even President Buhari was not spared in the jab.
“If not me that led the war from the front, Buhari would not have emerged as the president. He contested first, second and third times, but lost. He even said on television that he won’t contest again,” he said.
Mr Atiku, who is the presidential candidate of the PDP, contested for President in 2007 on the platform of Action Congress, the party of the former Lagos State governor.
Across the country, Tinubu has sponsored several political associates for political offices, some of who are in the contest for the same presidential ticket.
Tinubu is believed to have nominated the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo as Vice President in 2015. The two politicians are in the race for the presidential ticket of the party.
This outburst may not be unconnected with the recent pronouncement by President Muhammadu Buhari that State governors on the platform of the APC should back him to select a successor.