By Chinwendu Obienyi
Former APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomole has disassociated APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the failures of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Oshiomole who featured on a live programme monitored by Daily Sun in Lagos, yesterday, said it was wrong to credit or appropriate blames on Tinubu due to ongoing economic challenges bedevilling the country.
“It is a fact that Asiwaju himself said he co-founded the APC. I was a co-founding governor of the APC along with Fashola and other governors but he never participated in governance, never held or carried out any contract on behalf of the government and so crediting him is totally wrong. This is just being fair and it is not the Vice President who announced that he has been given the responsibility by the President to chair the economic team and so you cannot ask him to account for some economic policies. You cannot say that someone who never in any way participated in the government should be credited with the outcome of government policies or blamed either way,” Oshiomhole said.
When quizzed on the outcry of Nigerians over the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC, Oshiomole said: “Tinubu is a Muslim who married a Christian and did not force his wife to adopt his own religion which some practices has shown over time. Many governors upon leaving office book a seat at the senate. Asiwaju, upon leaving office, did not do that, but he encouraged his wife to go to the Senate, he did not go to the Senate himself. It turned out his wife has been one of the most active senators.
“So, I think the outcry from the Pentecostal Association of Nigeria (PFN) as well as the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is just all blackmail. I also think our challenge is beyond religion, rather we should be talking about evaluating these candidates and what they would do to transform the economy. CAN or PFN is not speaking for northern Christians.”
While faulting PDP for being behind some of the challenges facing the country, Oshiomole revealed that after APC had defeated PDP in 2015, well known PDP leaders suggested a change of name of the party to be able to become electable.
“That is how bad PDP was. Now, who talks about that? I believe that President Buhari on balance would or should be credited with a number of achievements. Clearly, he himself has not claimed that he has solved all the problems. President Buhari inherited a terrible economic situation. Some progress has been made in many areas, but the truth is new problems have developed, some of which are external to us and maybe some could have been pursued differently,” he said.