Over the past
few months there have been speculations that Ex-governor of Lagos State Ahmed
Tinubu has been on logger heads with the Governor of Lagos State, Raji
Fashola. The speculations attained a
higher dimension when many national dailies carried the story that they have
actually fallen out with each other due to the APC primaries which took place
yesterday.
Ahmed Tinubu
has come out to disassociate himself from all the stories. Please read his full press release below.
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For a while
now, I have noticed and read many published political stories on Lagos politics
in particular and the personalities involved that are either concerted,
unsubstantiated, pure conjectures or outright falsehood. In this instance, I
reference a recent story ran by a major newspaper concerning my successor and
me. There is no doubt political charlatans and enemies are at work fueling
unnecessary rumour and insinuations and seeking to drive a wedge in an
otherwise cordial and respectful political relationship. My relationship with
Governor Fashola remains cordial both at the personal level and at the level of
commitment to ensuring Lagos State remains on the path of political stability,
growth and development.
Whether
Governor Fashola had a specific candidate or not isn’t the issue here. What is
important is to have a transparent process in the spirit of democracy to which
we both subscribe. We often debate,
agree or disagree. But when it comes to
concluding on the interest of Lagos State, we are on the same page. The current
situation and issues around the Lagos Gubernatorial primary are being
overblown. What we have done is ensure that no one is denied his or her rights
to participate and compete for any elective position. Such a disposition should
not translate into anger and divisiveness of the party as it is being peddled.
Conflicts and disagreements is part of every political process. The capacity to
solve these conflicts in-house and not on the pages of newspaper is a tradition
in Lagos.
We warn the
people of Lagos state against speculative, self-serving stories aimed at
destabilizing the party and its leadership. The media must be weary of
accepting or publishing stories that seek to pursue a narrow political agenda.
Rather, they should make their paper a platform for proper news dissemination
and constructive analysis such that can help our country tackle the current
security problem, create jobs.
While we
appreciate, recognize and respect the right of every media house to publish any
story, it is important not to be part of the feeding frenzy and not to mislead
the unsuspecting public.
At my age and
with my level of political experience, I am expected to seek for solutions,
work for reconciliations and find a common ground where disagreements exist.
That is what I have dedicated myself to in the larger interest of Lagos State
and Nigeria at large. That is what Governor Babatunde Fashola and myself are
about. That is what Lagos state deserves as Nigeria’s pacesetter in terms of
democracy and development.
Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu
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