Tinubu didn’t impose Lawan, Gbajabiamila on APC

The Senator representing Ondo North Senatorial
District, Robert Boroffice, on Tuesday clarified that the
National Leader of the All Progressives Congress,
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, did not impose Senator Ahmad
Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, as consensus
candidates of the party for the National Assembly
leadership positions.
There was a general outcry among some federal
lawmakers over the roles played by Tinubu, towards the
inauguration of the eight National Assembly when the
election into the office of the Senate President; his
deputy; Speaker of the House of Representatives and
his deputy, were conducted.
There was a section among the APC federal
lawmakers, who are loyalists of Senator Bukola Saraki,
and Hon. Yakubu Dogara, who believed that Lawan and
Gbajabiamila were single-handedly picked by the former
governor of Lagos State for alleged personal interests.
But Boroffice, in an interview with journalists in Abuja
on Tuesday argued that, Tinubu had preferred Senator
George Akume and Gbajabiamila, to be presented as
the party’s choice for the post of Senate President and
Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively.
He said the argument of Tinubu was that both Akume
and Gbajabiamila being minority leaders in the Seventh
Senate and House of Representatives, should
automatically assume the leadership of both chambers
as Senate President and Speaker respectively.
Boroffice said, “Asiwaju Tinubu had already made up
his mind to, in line with the normal, global
parliamentary practice, support Akume and
Gbajabiamila but the story changed along the line,
when there were indications that the party leadership
was favourably disposed to Lawan.
“Tinubu did not before then, have any close political
interactions with Lawan. It was a senator, who is very
close to the presidency that actually took Lawan to
Asiwaju in Lagos, in company with another prominent
party leader.
“Tinubu, categorically told the two gentlemen in the
presence of Lawan that his choice was Akume and
pledged to consult with other party leaders before he
would give his final answer to their request to support
Lawan.
“I was in the know of all the process that led to the
emergence of Lawan and Gbajabiamila as consensus
candidates. Tinubu played the role because of his
loyalty to the party. I was among the four people that
he sent to beg Akume, since he had already promised
to support him.
“The campaign of calumny against Asiwaju was a
grand conspiracy to tarnish Tinubu’s image because
some people were no longer comfortable with his ever
growing influence and goodwill within the party, which
he earned over the years as a result of his generosity
and selfless service.”
Boroffice said the initial campaign of the anti – Tinubu
lawmakers within the APC was that Lawan’s
emergence, being too independent minded person,
coupled with his alleged closeness to the former Senate
President, David Mark, would be a thorn in the flesh of
President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
He said, “It was when their wicked campaign against
Lawan because of Asiwaju’s support for him failed, that
they connived with the Peoples Democratic Party to
rebel against the party’s consensus candidates of
Lawan and Gbajabiamila.”