Bola Tinubu, All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate, has traveled to Daura, Katsina state to beg President Muhammadu Buhari over his comment in Abeokuta, Ogun state on Wednesday.
The APC presidential candidate met President Buhari accompanied by three governors of the party today as efforts tackle the crisis of confidence in the ruling party continues.
The three governors who visited Buhari on Friday are Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi, Banagana Zulum of Borno, and Bello Massari of Katsina states.
Tinubu had during the party’s Presidential candidate alleged that the ongoing fuel scarcity, and Naira Redesign by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, were deliberately orchestrated to stop him from winning the February 25 presidential election.
He said, “Hide the petrol, hide the naira, we will still vote! We will win,” the former Lagos governor had said.
“Even if you change the ink on naira notes, what you want will not happen. We will win. That umbrella party will lose. We will take this government from them — saboteurs that are dragging power with us.”
The magazine had reported that the comment caused anger in the Presidency, to the extent that some close aides of the president considered Tinubu’s attack on CBN and NNPC Limited an attack on the administration.
But the APC presidential hopeful, tried to defray the tension in Aso Rock, in Benue state on Thursday by saying that the opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, is responsible for the problems.
This, apparently, was not enough to pacify angry officials in the Presidency who have threatened to abandon Tinubu to his fate, sources close to Nigeria’s seat of power said.
Even though the Presidency said on Wednesday that President Buhari is fully in support of Tinubu to succeed him, despite his ‘gaffe’ in Abeokuta, some APC topshots from the south west and North, close to the former Lagos state governor were said to have impressed it on Tinubu the need to meet Buhari to douse the tension.
“You cannot continue to attack the same government you are trying to succeed,” an official said on Friday.
The source said it “is very imperative for Tinubu to meet with the president and explain to him that his comment was taken out of context, if not, a lot of damage will be done to his campaign.”
From all indication, the damaged caused by Tinubu’s attack on the administration and the APC will take time to heel, if not enough to affect the party’s chances to win next month make or mar presidential election, critiçs of the ruling party said.
