A former member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Hajia Najaatu Mohammed, has given a blow-by-blow account of her conversation with the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in London, United Kingdom.
The Editor Nigeria reports that Hajia Naja’atu Mohammed had last Saturday announced her resignation from the APC campaign organization and the ruling party.
The former director had stated that her conscience would not allow her to continue in the APC PCC, claiming that Tinubu was too sick and possibly suffering from Alzheimer’s disease as he could not hold a teacup when she visited him in London some time ago
In a no-holds-barred interview with THISDAY, the former APC chieftain revealed more details of her conversation with the former Lagos State governor.
Emi Lokan
She disclosed that she began to observe that the APC presidential candidate is not who they portrayed him to be to the public after he made his infamous ‘emi lokan‘ statement in Ogun State last year.
Naja’atu stated that she had earlier rejected her appointment as Civil Society Director in the APC presidential campaign council.
Narrating what transpired, she said: “It started the day he made that declaration in Ogun when he said it’s his turn. By saying that, it means that Nigeria has become the personal property of some people. It is like a pie: you have the knife now, you cut your own, you eat your own, now it is time to cut my own. That was what he said, and that is what he meant.
“I excused that because in life, you have to be patient. You have to use your wisdom. I didn’t partake in any of their activities, and then they called me; they asked me to be a director in the civil society organisations, which I rejected. Having rejected it, they started to plead with me: ‘Please, in the name of God, please take it!’ I said no. I don’t want to take it because I haven’t sat with Asiwaju to actually tell me what he has for us — particularly up North — and I don’t want to be arrogant.”
Zombie
The former APC stated that she agreed to meet with Asiwaju as soon as possible, revealing that she would take up the appointment only if she was satisfied with what he told her.
She claimed that was why they put my name with another person’s name as co-director in the list of members of the APC campaign organization released to journalists.
Naja’atu said: “I went to London the next day to see Aswaju on his invitation because he called me that night to say ‘Naja, I appreciate your stand that you rejected the appointment.’ I said, ‘yes sir’. Because I can’t be a zombie at this point in time. I have to know what you have for us. Then, he said if I could come to London, and I took a flight the next day and went to see him in London and we sat down for two hours.
“The first question I asked him was what he has for us up North. He told me point-blank that he didn’t have anything. I asked him, I said, ‘Sir, you mean you don’t have a blueprint?’ He said, ‘No! I cannot have a blueprint until I win the election’. I said, ‘Sir, if we wait for you to win the election, there will be a lot of distraction, you have to have a blueprint. You have to be able to tell us what you intend to do.’
“I said we have so many problems: aren’t you aware of the insecurity? Aren’t you aware of the out-of-school kids? Aren’t you aware of the hunger? That people cannot go to the farms? He said, ‘Look Naja, if you can, please, write out what you want so that I can put it in my manifesto’. I was angry, but I remained patient. I left him, stayed back in London and mobilised our people, and we came out with some demands, so to say.”
Caged Asiwaju
Naja’atu, who has met and endorsed the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, said she had been refused access to Tinubu to present him with the document he asked her to create.
“To date, they have refused to let me see Asiwaju and give him the document. I did everything possible, I haven’t seen Asiwaju. I haven’t sat with Asiwaju since then. They didn’t allow me to see him. The man is caged,” she said.
