Buba Galadima, a former ally of President Muhammadu Buhari has given his verdict on Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, ahead of the presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress.
Galadima said Osinbajo cannot be trusted by politicians, after coming out to challenge his mentor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
His view coincides with the thinking of many delegates in the northern part of Nigeria, as they arrive Abuja for the election on Tuesday.
In an interview with the Punch, Galadima said Osinbajo should have given up his presidential ambition as a show of loyalty to Tinubu.
“If he doesn’t, can you now trust him? If you look at how Osinbajo came with Tinubu and he’s now contesting against Tinubu who brought him, how safe would you be to work with such a person?
“If the man who did all this to someone who made him commissioner, made him this, made him that and he is now fighting him. You will now want to fight for him now, what would be your status later in life with him?
Asked that alliances change in politics, Galadima said that was not enough excuse for Osinbajo to stab Tinubu in the back as a former protege.
“So, politics does not connote decency or respect at all? Is that what you are trying to tell me? I am a principled person. I am with Rabiu Kwankwaso, for example now, even if you give me the whole of the Central Bank of Nigeria, that cannot change me.
“And you can ask Goodluck Jonathan’s people about me. In 2015, they tried to induce Sule Yahaya, who was our director-general; Mustapha Saliu, the man from Kwara State who was Deputy National Chairman of the CPC and me, just for us to make an appearance and endorse the candidacy of Jonathan but we refused to take it.
“Therefore, we are not doing things for personal benefits. We do things hoping that it would be the best for Nigeria. That is why I don’t believe in sentiments; primordial sentiments of religion, tribe or where one comes from.
“We have tried all these and we have failed as a nation. Why don’t we try for once capacity and capability to accommodate all Nigerians and deliver Nigeria from this present status instead of predicament?”
Galadima also confirmed an unwritten agreement between Tinubu and President Buhari about succession in APC.
“Not perfectly an agreement, but there was an understanding because Tinubu with one other person and the President also with another person sat down and the information we got was that they agreed that if Tinubu would help Buhari win, he would become the Vice-President. When that was not possible, they called him to ask him to assist because of the exigencies of the time, which wouldn’t have allowed for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“They said that whatever he does, he should deploy and make sure that Buhari becomes President and that when he (Buhari) is going, he would also do whatever he would in his powers to assist Tinubu to become President.
“It looks like they are now going back on that understanding. And a promise is a promise whether written or unwritten because if you can subvert it, God knows your heart. And God never accepts betrayal. When you are committed, whether it is sour or bitter, or tasty, you have to swallow it.
“Now, it looks like they want to go back on that understanding with Tinubu. This is why Tinubu is bitter and I understand this bitterness, because of what has happened to him, which I told him years back. I told him what was going to happen to him. And everything that I predicted those years is now happening. My prayer for him (Tinubu) is that he should come out of this unscathed and healthy. That is my biggest prayer for him.
“But for him, it looks like he has already been subverted. The only way he can get his momentum is if the party agrees to do primaries. If the party agrees to go to the primaries, I have no doubt in my mind that Tinubu may emerge victorious, but as far as the consensus which they want to adopt is concerned, he is out of the game”.
Who were those present when Buhari and Tinubu reached this agreement you claimed?
“I won’t tell you but the people involved know. Tinubu came to the meeting with a former governor while Buhari came with a sitting governor. That is why that governor is solidly behind Tinubu today and because of the fear of God. But I wouldn’t want to mention the names of the two of them, because, Tinubu himself has alluded to this kind of understanding.
“So are you saying that Buhari is the kind of person that does not honour promises?
“Well, I don’t know. You should be the judge or ask Tinubu to whom he made the verbal promise.
So you foresee a situation whereby the party can have some crises or can even break if Tinubu is schemed out?
Well, the truth of the matter is that Nigerian politicians are cowards. Nigerian politicians are unprincipled. If they are courageous and principled, the APC would have broken into pieces a long time ago. But because of betrayals, God will never allow the APC to succeed, and even if they succeed, they will never have peace.
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