The media offices of Vice President
Yemi Osinbajo and All Progressives
Congress (APC) National Leader Bola
Tinubu issued separate statements,
yesterday, warning the public to beware
of plots by unscrupulous persons
against their principals.
Osinbajo and Tinubu have both declared
their intention to contest the presidency
in next year’s general elections. The
duo’s aspirations, however, have further
stirred political waters, with some of
their supporters hurling accusations and
counteraccusations.
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Titled, ‘Tinubu is the target of
blasphemous campaign’, the aspirant’s
media office said: “The orchestrated set-
up of a poster campaign seeking to use
a literary application of the Biblical story
of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Jesus
Christ to rope Asiwaju Tinubu into a
storm of blasphemy is the most
desperate antics of anti-Tinubu
propagandists in recent times.”
It said: “Investigations have revealed that
those who created the offensive poster
were the same people who created the
counter-campaign alleging blasphemy.
Their design is used both to provoke
anger against the person and aspiration
of Asiwaju Tinubu.
“This campaign has failed. This is
clearly irresponsible and insensitive
political propaganda that seeks to exploit
religious sentiments to manipulate public
perception against Asiwaju Tinubu, who
is ostensibly the most formidable
presidential aspirant in this race.”
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ON the other hand, the Osinbajo for
President Media Council said it
“uncovered yet another fraudulent plan
to malign the reputation of Prof. Yemi
Osinbajo, Vice President of Nigeria and a
presidential aspirant on the platform of
the APC.
“The plot has been traced to a cell of
smear campaigners, led by a U.S. based
Nigerian, who was formerly a Students
Union President at the University of
Lagos. The same individual is currently a
lecturer at the University of Ohio in the
USA.
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“The plan is to use fake audio of
faceless individuals with fictitious names
to cast the Vice President, who is a
Christian, as a religious fanatic, who
discriminated against the staff of other
faith while he was Attorney General (AG)
and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos
State during the tenure of former
Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
The statement continues: “In the fake
video, a woman is seen crying and
making frantic allegations that she was
discriminated against by the then-
Attorney General, because she was not
allowed to wear the Muslim head cover
for women, otherwise known as ‘hijab’, to
work.
“As observed by someone who was in
the same ministry at the time Osinbajo
served as Attorney General, no such
incident ever occurred and this is just a
malicious and wicked attempt to sully
the sterling qualities of Osinbajo
because of his presidential aspirations.
“Indeed as Attorney General, Osinbajo’s
Secretary, a Muslim, Alhaji Abdul Gafar
Bakare, had testified before now that the
then Lagos AG ‘did not only encourage
me to further my education, even at my
relatively old age, he personally
sponsored my BSc Accounting
Programme.’ He added that the Vice
President also sponsored his foreign
travel then.
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“It would be recalled that a similar smear
campaign was unleashed against
President Muhammadu Buhari, especially
during the 2014-15 presidential
campaigns, when it was alleged that he
was virulently anti-Christian. The attempt
however met with failure.
“Even though a Christian pastor,
Osinbajo has always demonstrated
himself to be a tolerant Nigerian who
believes in inter-faith harmony and
freedom of worship, as enshrined in the
1999 Constitution as amended.
“During his career as a university
teacher, he taught Muslims and
Christians alike in a convivial
atmosphere. He also had excellent
working and private relationships with
Muslim bosses over the decades,
including Judge Bola Ajibola, former
Governor Tinubu and President
Muhammadu Buhari. Osinbajo remains a
firm believer in Nigeria’s diversity and an
ardent proponent of Nigerian unity.
“For these reasons, the media council
feels the need to alert the general public
to the odious campaign strategy of
Osinbajo’s detractors and urge everyone
to ignore same when released to the
public.”
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PRESSING its argument further, Tinubu’s
media office said: “It is widely known
that Asiwaju Tinubu is married to not
just a Christian but an ordained pastor,
Senator Oluremi Tinubu, and has
developed a very deep fraternal
relationship with Christendom at all
levels, a fact acknowledged by many
bishops, pastors and parishioners over
the years.
“A known Muslim, Asiwaju in words and
actions has demonstrated religious
tolerance and accommodation. He
believes in the cardinal principle of the
Nigerian Constitution that no one should
suffer discrimination on the basis of
creed or opinion.
“Besides, as a former governor of Lagos,
a state that is a microcosm of Nigeria in
terms of religious diversity, his matured
management of religion as a way of life,
ensured inter-religious harmony in
Nigeria’s most industrialised state.
“It is, therefore, impudent to contemplate
that a statesman of Asiwaju Tinubu’s
standing will condone Biblical allusions
that could denigrate his person or
status.
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These basic facts were ignored by those
desperate to set Muslims against
Christians through deliberate
disinformation of the general public.
“While we shall continue to appeal to the
Nigerian people to ignore such
campaigns of calumny, we reiterate our
commitment to prioritise our political
communication on the exposition of the
truth and dissemination of our point of
view with decency and regard to the
feelings of Nigerians.
“This is an irreducible minimum for us.
We urge others to join us in this patriotic
mission by shunning desperation and
verbal violence in the campaign for the
highest office in the land.”
Source:- Guardian Ng