Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. National leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has denied views attributed to him in a “leaked”, which has gone viral on the social media
Much of the “leaked” report dwell on his alleged admission that he stole money and boosted about it before a gathering of party members on January 14 in Lagos. In a statement signed by his media aide. Mr Tundra Rahman, Tinubu described the contents of the report as a garbled representation of his words and a figment of the imagination of its purveyors.
Titled : “Response to Leaked Audio Report”, Rahman said “If the carriers of this defamation hired someone to translate Asiwaju’s words, they should demand their money back”.
He said that though; “Politics is an arena where mischief and exaggeration may not be the best craft but are permitted excesses of the trade,however, when people engage in wilful defamation, they have crossed the line into the impermissible.
“In a desperate attempt to paint Asiwaju in a poor light, the reports grossly mistranslates his statements to imply corruption and election malpractice. This is beyond the pale.
“The reports claim that Asiwaju boasted that he stole money. The merchants of this outlandishness use the fact of Asiwaju speaking Yoruba at the meeting as the basis for their falsehood. Thus, non-Yoruba speakers are left to accept their translation of Asiwaju’s words. Had Asiwaju spoken in English they would not have a story to sell for his words clearly do not say what they claim of him. Their allegations are untrue but they figured their lies would still fly because many if not most of their audience cannot understand Yoruba
“Asiwaju never said, in Yoruba or any other language for that matter, that he stole money. Numerous media houses sent reporters fluent in Yoruba to this gathering and their reporters. The reports of these more legitimate journalistic sources did not register the same untrue claims as these mercenaries.
“Asiwaju said he would not go to Alausa but would use his own funds for the present effort. Thus, for the manufacturers of this fake report to claim Asiwaju said he would take government money is to hear some say “day” and claim he said “night” or have him say ‘up” but claim he said “down.” Such an utter mistranslation is unlikely to be an innocent gaffe. It is more likely wilful slander.
“One of the issues Asiwaju dwelt on in his address is the reward system for loyal party members and ardent supporters. He told party members the APC has now devised a plan to compensate them for their hard work after they delivered victory to the party at the polls.
In short, Asiwaju promised the party faithful, APC supporters and members a reward for their efforts to secure victory in the 2019 elections. He has previously stated the goal of getting 3 million people in Lagos to sufficiently believe in the vision of the APC that they will vote for President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo. This objective was again the crux of his Valentine’s Day statement.
“Take Asiwaju’s statement for what was truly said. He said he would not steal money nor ask for government funds. Instead, he said he would recognise the successful efforts of APC members using only his personal funds. As such, his statement should not be held up to scorn or criticism but should be welcomed as the manner how things should proceed.
The falsifiers seek to paint his statement as improper. However, it is common practice to give tokens of gratitude to party members for their work. It is feeble to suggest that such a practice somehow amounts to vote-buying. No one was directed to give money to potential voters. Asiwaju made it clear that the token rewards would only take place after the election. As far as any reasonable person can discern, it is somewhat impossible to purchase a vote after an election has already taken place…;
