A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Jesutega Onokpasa, has again appealed to President Bola Tinubu to stop those around him from hounding former governors Nasir el-Rufai and Yahaya Bello of Kaduna and Kogi states, respectively.
He maintained that the continued persecution of the fomer governors, despite the huge role they played in the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as President of the country was already making people scared of supporting the President in the future.
While addressing Tinubu in a video clip that has now gone viral, the popular Tinubu loyalist, Onokpasa, insinuated that those using the anti-graft agencies to persecute the former governors were doing so for their selfish interests.
According to him, this is giving room for the speculation that APC is a party that uses and dumps loyalists, “stab them at the back and throw them under the bus.”
The APC chieftain and member of the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council, also urged the President to forgive the former governors, whom he described as his sons in case they had offended him.
Onokpasa argued against a recent statement credited to the President on why he doesn’t interfere in the affairs of the anti-graft agencies, saying, “You see, this narrative that you do not interfere in the affairs of the anti-graft agencies, my President, nobody believes it. Not when Bayo Onanuga, a Presidential spokesman took it upon himself to start hounding Governor Yahaya Bello that he should submit himself to EFCC and so on, as if EFCC does not have a spokesman.
“When a Presidential spokesman inserts himself into such a matter, he is basically saying you are interfering in the work of anti-graft agencies. They have a spokesman, let the EFCC spokesman speak for the EFCC. Bayo can speak for you.
“At a time, the one we just defeated, defeated hands down, who tried to steal Ododo’s mandate, Muritala Ajaka, his supporters were going all about saying that he is your candidate, that you are the one supporting him. In fact, there was a time they were threatening Ododo that he better stab Yahaya Bello in the back or he will lose as if you are the one in control of the Judiciary. I have never seen a bunch of useless, incompetent people like these people hounding Yahaya Bello.”
While reacting to speculations that his appointment from Tinubu might have been delayed because of his vociferous condemnation of political vendetta against Bello and El-Rufai, Onokpasa said he preferred that the President put a stop to the hounding of the former governors to any appointment that might have been prepared for him.
The Tinubu loyalist said, “You see, Asiwaju, I just want to make an appeal to you, this thing about hounding Yahaya Bello and Nasir el-Rufai, it is making people become scared of you. There is this narrative going on, a man met me the other day and was asking me, is it only northerners that are thieves?
“Are there no thieves in Lagos, are there no thieves in the South West? I mean, that is the impression people are getting. That their stars in the North are being attacked. That it is a strategy for political castration of the North. You can’t afford that narrative.
“These (Bello and El-Rufai) are our people, our dear northern compatriots that we relied on to come to power. We know where we won, we know where we lost, we know where our votes came from. These whole thing mistifies me but nobody is able to give me any concrete information as to what is Yahaya’s crime, what is El-Rufai’s malfeasance to the extent that he would… I mean basically be deceived that he has been nominated as a minister, then he goes there, somebody says there is a security report that disqualifies him from being a minister.
“The security report that didn’t disqualify him from being a minister, the one that didn’t disqualify him from being a two term governor of Kaduna. So, suddenly, the same security report disqualified him from being a minister in this administration. Nobody takes these things seriously.
“With all that is available with me, it is all witch-hunt. Some people are even boasting that they want to give Yahaya the Emefiele treatment. What an insult to us, your supporters. Yahaya took this man (Emefiele) to court on your behalf, for your own good, for our collective good, Yahaya took Emefiele to court, took the CBN to court. He, alongside El-Rufai and Bello Matawalle.
“Then we will tun around like a bull of vipers, stab him in the back and give the impression that we are the kind of people who use and dump people? Who stab our comrades in the back? Who throw our brothers under the bus?
“People are already regrouping Asiwaju. If nobody is telling you that, I am telling you this. They are regrouping, they openly threaten us these days. They say you guys, wait for us, you will hear from us in 2027. Please, there is no need for all this.”
Maintaining that he doesn’t want any appointment from this administration other than the demand for fairness as regards the former governors, the APC chieftain stated, “One person was telling me the other day that my appointment is being delayed because I support Yahaya Bello. I should turn my back on him because of appointment? Take the appointment. Don’t blackmail me. Nonsense! Please, my President, I plead with you, tell these crazy people to leave our brothers alone. Call them off, tell them to behave themselves. I don’t want appointment, if that is the one you will do for me, I will be satisfied. Let them stop harassing them.”
“Pound for pound, nobody contributed to this presidency more than Nasir el-Rufai. He mobilised all the northern governors, that power must shift to the South. We can’t be giving the impression that we are not to be trusted, then there is no political capital anymore because trust is everything,” the lawyer further told President Tinubu.
Asking Tinubu to gather everyone in the party together and allow bygones be bygones, Onokpasa pleaded for unity, saying, “I urge you to forgive your sons, Yahaya Bello and Nasir el-Rufai. Whatever they might have done, since nobody is ready to give any reasonable information pertaining thereto. But, whatever, to err is human, to forgive is divine. Many of those who are with you now, including the ones you made ministers, they were the ones insulting us before and during campaign.
“Suddenly now, it is Yahaya and El-Rufai, some of the brightest stars in the North, that we are supposed to take as public enemies number one. I am not buying it. I am not turning my back on fomer Governor Yahaya Bello, I am not at all. I am very proud of him and I will stand with him regardless of the consequences. If anybody wants to take appointment from me, go and dash my appointment to the Obidients.”
