A former managing director of the News Agency of Nigeria, Bayo Onanuga, has denied claims he is working against the presidential ambition of the former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu.
Mr Onanuga in a statement he posted on social media described the claims as “far from the truth.”
“I am fully in support of Bola Tinubu. I am not in PYO’s (President Yemi Osinbajo) camp and will not be in his camp if Tinubu is running,” Mr Onanuga, the publisher of PM News, said.
“People who know me will attest to the fact that I am ever loyal to my friends, loyal to a political cause. I have been on the political left since 1978’ when I joined Awolowo’s UPN as a UNILAG student.
“I am not a renegade. And I can vouch for Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi and Dele Alake as well.”
Mr Tinubu, the national leader of the APC, will lock horns with several aspirants, including Vice President Osinbajo, his former protege, for the party’s ticket ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
Read Mr Onanuga’s post below:
My attention has been drawn to some lies being circulated about me as having jumped the Bola Ahmed Tinubu train and being against his presidential ambition.
The faceless writer, I guess a hatchet hand wrote: “Almost all members of the Tinubu original power/intellectual base and allies when he was Governor are not in support of his Presidential ambition. Aregbesola, Afikuyomi, Ojudu, Onanuga, Alake, Fasola etc. Most of them may work for PYO’’.
Let me correct this misrepresentation straightforwardly: the statement is far from the truth as far as I am concerned.
I am fully in support of Bola Tinubu. I am not in PYO’s camp and will not be in his camp if Tinubu is running.
People who know me will attest to the fact that I am ever loyal to my friends, loyal to a political cause. I have been on the political left since 1978’when I joined Awolowo’s UPN as a UNILAG student.
I am not a renegade. And I can vouch for Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi and Dele Alake as well.
The author of the rumour was merely writing conjectures on an issue that is unpredictable, a party’s primary election, where an outsider will only Labour in vain in making permutations.
As far as I am concerned, and let me say it loud and clear, I am in support of Bola Tinubu’s ambition. I am not against him. He is my first choice, the second choice and the third choice for the exalted seat.
Nigeria is in need of a visionary, a deep thinker, a man with the Midas touch, who can take our country on a journey of prosperity. This country has suffered enough and really needs a new leader who can breathe fresh air in it and change the way things are done.
Nigeria needs a man of ideas, who will not just talk his way, but really get things done.
I have no doubt that Bola Tinubu is capable of this, which is why I support his campaign to lead Nigeria.
I have known him since 1992. I was part of his governorship campaign in 1998 before others were invited to his government after we won the election in January 1999.
I was close to his government for eight years and I bore witness to the innovations he brought into governance, the overhauling of the system that he carried out, some of which other states and the Federal Government had copied.
I have no iota of doubt that he will replicate the same at the centre, and even do more, if given the opportunity.
These are the reasons I support his campaign. And Nigerians will hear more about my involvement in the next few days.
Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility
Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.
For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.
By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.
TEXT AD: Call Willie - +2348098788999
