Abdullahi Adamu, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says the utterances of Bola Tinubu, a presidential hopeful, about President Muhammadu Buhari were “insulting”.
He said the remarks show that Tinubu does not have any “appreciable level of respect” for the office of the president, and he may be punished if deemed necessary.
While addressing delegates in Abeokuta, on Thursday, Tinubu had said without him, Buhari would not have won the presidential election in 2015.
The comment sparked varied reactions from Nigerians on the circumstances surrounding the 2015 elections.
However, Tinubu’s campaign organisation said the APC chieftain’s remarks were not meant to disrespect the president.
Speaking with journalists at the APC headquarters in Abuja, on Saturday, Adamu said though Tinubu’s campaign organisation tried to clarify his statement, the retraction is not enough and lacks sincerity.
“He went as far as saying how Gen. Muhammadu Buhari went to him, citing instances of even prostrating in tears begging him to endorse him and to support him for the presidency. He claimed Buhari went to him,” he said.
“His utterances are very very insulting. It’s very unbecoming for a person of that standing to do what he did to the sitting President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the president produced by the votes of the APC.
“Though he is the president, he belongs to everybody. It is amazing how a fellow APC person would make that kind of comment in that kind of circumstances about the president. We take exception to this. It has shown that he does not show any appreciable level of respect for the office of Mr President.
“Therefore we want to make it public that we are saddened by what we saw in the video, in that reportàge and we condemn it in the strongest of terms.
“We do hope that he would never say that kind of again, particularly of the APC extraction to make such kinds of comments.
“Yes, yesterday we saw some part of a retraction but that effort is not adequate. It is not sincere. It is not in-depth enough. It doesn’t wipe out the impression that that event has left in our minds.”
Asked if Tinubu will be punished for his utterances, Adamu said as of the time Tinubu spoke, the APC presidential primary screening panel had not presented its report.
“At the time this event took place, the screening committee have not presented their report to us at all. And was not trying to suggest that anybody was under any threat. So there was no justification for the time that this thing happened,” he said.
“If there is the need to penalise any member of the party, not just Bola Tinubu, we will bring him to the party’s book. Anybody, as we watch events as they unfold.”
