- Ogunlewe: Only Tinubu Can Take Nigeria Out of Current Economic, Political Crisis
- ‘..I ‘ll Renounce My Nigerian Citizenship If He Becomes President’, Says George
A former Military Governor of Ondo State, Chief Bode George, has alleged that one of the national leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has no certificates.
George, who is also a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while speaking on an ARISE TV programme, monitored by The New Diplomat, Wednesday, claimed that Tinubu, a 2023 presidential hopeful has no requisite educational qualification to seek the highest office in the land.
According to him, Tinubu who is a two-time Governor of Lagos State allegedly tendered a fake certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in the build up to the 1999 and 2003 governorship elections respectively.
George also challenged Tinubu to prove him wrong by publicly producing his certificates.
In his words, “I can bet you any amount of money, let Bola bring out the certificate of his primary school, secondary school and the university he attended, we want to see them. Because I remember in 1998 or 1999, when we had the elections, you know, Yomi was the one who raised the polling papers that he sent to INEC. They now asked him to produce all those papers, he said he went to government college, Ibadan and the Children’s home school in Ibadan. We went there, we checked what year. Where’s your certificate?, nothing. When they asked him, he quickly said that he wasn’t the one that signed it, that it was Yomi who signed it.
“I will be saying this in public that this fellow doesn’t have all these certificates, and I’m not hiding it. Let him bring them out. Whatever you have tell us, if your are from whatever tell us, what are you afraid of? You must be afraid because you know that people will find out a lot of things that are illegal.”
Speaking further, the PDP chieftain also reiterated that he would cease to be a Nigerian if the former Governor of Lagos becomes the president of the country.
According to George, Tinubu has no qualification to become the president of the country, claiming that he failed during his time as the governor of the Lagos State.
Although Tinubu is yet to publicly announce his interest in running for the presidential seat, speculations have been flying around about his ambition as many of his supporters had already kick-started presidential campaign on his behalf ahead of 2023.
Earlier on the programme, a former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe had drummed support for Tinubu’s presidency, describing him as the man that fits for purpose in the 2023 presidential race. Ogunlewe, an APC Chieftain said Tinubu met all the criteria earlier listed by former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in a recent interview. He then asked Nigerians to shun Babangida’s attempt to influence political debate by putting age limit on presidential candidates.
Ogunlewe said: “If you talk about age, maybe he was not referring to Bola Tinubu. All other criteria are very close to Bola Tinubu description. It is not new that IBB is saying this.
“You have to be grounded in the politics of Nigeria to survive, you must know people, though age is not on his side but on the balance, he has all the criteria and he is the best for the position. It is your own opinion, age is irrelevant when talking of who can win elections in Nigeria.
“My personal prayers is that the presidency should be zoned to the South West, so we will have the capacity to manage the economy properly and the political situation in the country, and there is no other person that can do this order than Senator Bola Tinubu.”
Ogunlewe, who admitted that there are many people who are capable, singled out APC’s Senator Bola Tinubu and PDP’s bigwig and presidential hopeful, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
“Bola Tinubu is one of these people, Atiku is another person, who has the mental capacity to manage the economy and the political and security system,” Ogunlewe said.
He added, “if we talk of structures, investment, Bola Tinubu knows how to do it and manage people, so, if you want to compete with him, please start early.”
Responding to Ogunlewe’s position on Tinubu, Bode George said he was ready to debate Ogunlewe anywhere, “even in the graveyard at three o’clock in the morning. He is talking absolute nonsense. (Tinubu) the best man to be Nigeria’s President? I will do whatever is necessary to renounce my citizenship. That kind of fellow?
“You think Lagos is better off. We all live here, see the traffic, look at the state, no drainages. Look at what they put at the bar beach. What about the toll gates. They paid him about 30-something billion for the toll gate, and the Lagos state government, just call me now to say, we’re now taking over the full control of the toll gate, you paid him 30-something billion to pay him off. What is going on. What the heck is going on. This is my state. We have the other Governors, if they had behaved like what he is doing, there would have been nothing for you,” George added.
