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A chieftain of a Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Ayo Adebanjo says President, Muhammadu Buhari and national leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu are both deceiving themselves over the leadership crisis in their party.
The APC National Executive Committee (NEC) had on Thursday dissolved the national working committee of the party and appointed a Caretaker/ Extra-Ordinary Convention Committee headed by Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni.
Many had viewed the decision by the APC NEC as an indication of an ongoing rift between Tinubu and Buhari as well as a blow to the 2023 ambitions of the former Lagos governor who is believed to be pro-Adams Oshiomhole, the sacked chairman of the party.
But the Presidency, through the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement in Abuja on Saturday, said the requests Buhari put to the party’s NEC which were unanimously approved were aimed at saving the party, which at the time faced an existential crisis.
Shehu dismissed the claim of an ongoing showdown between the President and the APC National leader, noting that “they (Buhari and Tinubu) are in touch with each other. Their relationship remains as strong as ever and between the two of them, only they know how they manage their enviable relationship”.
But, reacting in an interview with The Punch, Adebanjo described the APC as a conglomeration of incompatibles without any ideology.
He said Tinubu knew that he was being deceived by Buhari but chose to rely on him and work to make him the President.
“I have worries for him (Tinubu). He knew all these things but he relied on Buhari and worked to make him the President. I said it before publicly that Buhari is deceiving Asiwaju and Asiwaju is deceiving Buhari. Everybody is trying to use the other. Why can’t Tinubu hammer on restructuring knowing that this was what brought Buhari to office?,” said the Afenifere Chieftain.
“I have been in this game for 70 years. So, many of those who are talking now were not born then. That is the truth – even Buhari was a toddler. He is now 74. Each time I tell you, why should Tinubu, the Vice-President (Yemi Osinbajo) and all those who were in Alliance for Democracy run to the APC? Why are they hesitating now to stand for restructuring? They can’t talk.
“All the things I am telling you now – it is not the first time. I said both Jagaban (Tinubu) and Osinbajo should get out of the APC. I said it openly. It is a disgrace and disservice to the Yorubaland. So, what is happening now shows there is nothing to bind them together.”
