From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
More than one week after the historic appearance of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at Chatham House in London, the outing has continued to generate controversy.
Amid the controversies trailing his refusal to be part of any presidential debate organised in the country, he had travelled several kilometres to appear at Chatham House, a top-rated elite Policy House, where many aspiring leaders go, perhaps for British assessment, screening, and endorsement.
His appearance to unveil his manifesto before the global and domestic audience was in alignment with what has now become a tradition in Nigeria, as many presidential candidates visit the Policy House to market themselves.
Surprisingly, the recent appearance of Tinubu at the revered Policy House generated more questions than answers.
Apart from the protests from London-based Nigerians, the celebrated successes of the event were marred by Tinubu’s novel style of delegating responsibilities, which incurred the anger and scorn of many Nigerians already chastising him for even controversially preferring the London platform to appearing at some presidential debates organized in the country.
Consequently, disdainful video clips were released by the opposition parties, especially the hilarious one from Senator Dino Melaye to mock Tinubu’s appearance. More than anything, the subletting of his responsibility, in the consideration of many, fell bellow the standard practice and tradition of the Chatham House.
To Dele Momodu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) Director, “what happened at Chatham House was a complete charade… The Tinubu handlers fumbled and bungled it big time… They showcased him like a packaged invalid. It would have been better to present him as a brilliant politician and administrator, warts and all, who is capable of independent thoughts.”
Also, Atiku Support Organization, in a statement, quipped that; “the fact that Tinubu couldn’t provide answers to basic questions, especially on how to improve bilateral ties in the area of defence with the United Kingdom, but called on El-Rufai, Gbajagbiamila, Betta Edu and co, to rescue him shows that Nigeria may be in for a major calamity ahead.
“In fact, the entire programme by the APC candidate at the Chatham House was a show of shame and an embarrassment to Nigeria. It is now clear to all Nigerians why Tinubu dodged the AriseTVTownHall debate. His mental facilities have shown a complete mark of deterioration, and he cannot face a one-on-one debate or conversation about his plans for Nigeria. A continuation of the APC government will be a major disaster for Nigeria,” the group warned the Nigerian electorate.
Ever since that London outing, the APC PCC, the party supporters, and even the national leadership of the party have all made strenuous efforts to justify the appearance of the ruling party presidential candidate, including releasing the video of his dancing in merriment to prove the success of the event.
But while Tinubu and his team are still struggling to wriggle out of the controversies, the insinuations that he used the visit as an alibi to embark on a foreign medical trip after going through stressful campaign rallies across the country joined forces to eclipse the successes recorded at the Chatham House.
Perhaps, the unending evaluations of his appearance may not have continued to generate the interminable controversy if Tinubu had honoured the invitation to appear at the presidential debate and or if he had avoided outsourcing the questions during the event to members of his entourage under the defence of team player.
Those on that side of the divide cited the appearance of both Obasanjo and even President Buhari at the Chatham House with little or no controversy other than the minor debate over the validity and quality of the manifesto and mode of presentations there.
Like Obasanjo and Buhari’s appearances, protesters were equally part of the outings, but clearly, their presence did not generate the kind of criticisms witnessed during Tinubu’s visit recently.
For many political watchers, the hullabaloo goes to confirm that the subject of the debate rests on the twin issues of Tinubu snubbing the presidential debates in Nigeria and outsourcing the questions. They are essentially what many hold against Tinubu as his unforgivable sins.
But, his decision to avoid the presidential debate ought not to come as a surprise to many politically aware Nigerians, having made it abundantly clear that he was not planning to make such appearance by any stroke of imagination any time soon.
Beyond the perception of many people as his reason for taking such a stand, students of history argue that it has perhaps become part of APC political tradition for candidates to avoid presidential debates, having resisted similar pressures from Nigerians for President Buhari to make such appearance in 2015 and 2019 elections.
“If Buhari who was never involved in any presidential debate could conveniently win the presidential elections twice, why should anybody pressurise Asiwaju to participate in similar presidential debate?” a member of APC National Working Committee (NWC), who pleaded anonymity in a chat with Daily Sun, asked rhetorically.
“It is gradually becoming the practice in our party to avoid presidential debate, otherwise why should Tinubu and his handlers completely back out from making any appearance if not that it never haunted President Buhari? But, I don’t even know why Nigerians should continue to dissipate so much energy over Tinubu’s appearance at presidential debate.
“Apart from all the mistakes we have seen during the campaign rallies so far, did you see the kind of witch-hunting questions they asked them? Does he look like someone with mental stability to make the desired impact at the debate? In fact, subletting the questions at Chatham House confirms why he may be avoiding the presidential debate.
“However, he should try to make such appearance on TVC platform to convince Nigerians of his mental capacity to handle such debate. It will also clear the misconception of outsourcing questions at Chatham House,” the NWC member quipped further.
In the eyes of many, even though Tinubu made it abundantly clear abi-initio that he will not appear in any organised presidential debate regardless of the platform, however, what surprised many was how he opted for Chatham House to incur what some observers described as a global shame.
While defending Tinubu’s absence at the first organised presidential debate, the APC PCC, had announced that he is not planning to make any appearance even in the nearest future.
According to the APC PCC; “firstly, many radio and television networks in Nigeria have indicated interests to host such debates and out of deference to other television and radio stations, our candidate will not be making selective appearances in some networks, while ignoring others. As President of Nigeria, by the special grace of God, he intends to treat all persons and businesses fairly and equally.
“Secondly, the busy and hectic campaign schedules of Asiwaju will not permit him to honour all such invitations by different radio and television networks, hence our decision for him not to start with one television station and later ignore others.
“Thirdly, our candidate had long before now realised the importance of speaking directly to Nigerians and shortly after unfolding his Action Plan embarked on town hall meetings…we want to assure Nigerians that we shall continue to hold these debate groups and Nigerians in high esteem. Nigerians will hear from our candidate loud and clear through other forums,” the statement signed by the Director, Public Affairs and spokesperson, Tinubu/Shettima PCC, Festus Keyamo, said and foreclosed any plan of Tinubu participating.
However, the question on the lips of many Nigerians was why he opted for Chatham House appearance ahead of the presidential debate to prove his competence before the Nigerian electorate.
But defending the choice of Chatham House, a member, Directorate of Strategic Communication of APC PCC, Temitope Ajayi, argued in a chat with Daily Sun that: “Asiwaju Tinubu had a successful outing that has been applauded globally. The takeaways are that his appearance brought great goodwill to him, APC and Nigeria. For him as an individual, he clearly laid out his vision for the country and showcased his capacity to be the President and Commander-in-Chief.
“He exhibited to the world that he is a team leader, a leader of men and women with the quality of his delegation. He showed the direction his government will take from day one, on how to handle issues around our economy, and security and the role Nigeria will play as the leader in Africa and ECOWAS sub-region. Africa will still remain a major focus of Nigeria’s foreign policy.
“He was able to also show the link between domestic policy and the well-being of the people and foreign policy. If the home front is troubled, there is no way Nigeria can effectively play its own on the global stage. He made that clear. “For the party, his Chatham House address showed that APC presented a competent, brilliant man with a capacity for hard work as its presidential candidate compared to other parties whose candidates don’t even understand the issues and gave a mediocre performance in previous government positions they held.
“For the country, the world can see a next President of Nigeria they can do business with. He is a man of vision and one who knows what to do to make the country greater whilst playing its leadership role as a respected member of the global community,” the PCC defended.
However, despite the passionate defence and credits to the ruling party’s candidate to justify his appearance, the attacks and criticisms hauled at him, especially the outsourcing of the questions, have persisted.
In an attempt to bury the debate over his choice of the London visit than an appearance at the presidential debate, the APC PCC member, said: “there is no issue of preference of Chatham House over presidential debate. Chatham House engagement has been in place and scheduled before any invitation to participate in any debate.
“Asiwaju as a person and citizen of Nigeria has a right to choose where he goes and events to attend. Besides, his campaign council made it clear that we don’t find Arise News a credible and impartial platform to organise a debate that Asiwaju will attend because of the obvious and consistent pattern of bias and negative/slanted reportage against him and his party.
“Nigerians can bear witness to how the station has been haranguing him and battering him daily with fake news, unfounded innuendos, attacks against his persons etc. Reuben Abati, who anchored one of the debates and a lead anchor on the station, is a known member of opposition party, PDP. Abati has not told Nigerians that he has resigned from his membership of PDP.
“He was a Deputy Governorship candidate of PDP in Ogun State to the Late Senator Buruji Kashamu. These are matters of public record. There is really no basis for this continuous argument about avoiding debate. Asiwaju didn’t attend Arise News debate as a matter of honour and principle. He refused to be intimidated and bullied by a clearly partisan media organisation,” Ajayi vehemently insisted.
He equally dismissed the position of many Nigerians on the outsourcing of the questions. “It is funny to say Asiwaju outsourced questions at Chatham House. 10 questions were asked and he answered four himself and asked his team members to take the remaining six each. How was that an outsourcing? He made it clear beforehand that he believed in the idea of teamwork.
“The fact is those talking about outsourcing can’t match Asiwaju Tinubu in anything. He is far ahead of them in brain power, mental acuity and intellectual endowment. None of them has the originality of thought and transformative ideas Asiwaju has espoused,” he argued.
Ajayi equally laughed off the insinuation that the London visit was an alibi to embark on a foreign medical trip, emphasising that; “it is ridiculous to say he went to the London event as a cover-up for a medical trip. I believe this is a contrived question feeding from gossip. Asiwaju does not need to hide under any cover to travel for medical reasons if he needed to.
“He will make it open to Nigerians. He is strong, fit, and has no health challenges. He is running the most engaging and demanding election campaign schedule of all the presidential candidates. He has covered more miles than any presidential candidate. Each day in London, he spent attending one engagement or the other.
“After Chatham House, he met members of APC UK chapter, had a meeting with the Diaspora Support Group, met with the UK Minister for Africa, and has been having various private meetings. Let anyone that has seen him in any hospital in the UK bring out the evidence. It is very ridiculous to suggest any time a leader like Asiwaju travels out of Nigeria means it must be to see a doctor,” he rebutted angrily.