Some appointees want Tinubu out of the way in 2027 so they can contest - APC Chief drops bombshell

A prominent member of the All Progressives Congress, Jesutega Onokpasa, has disclosed that certain aides of President Bola Tinubu are actively scheming to take over his position before the end of his tenure. 

Onokpasa, a lawyer and former member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, expressed dismay over what he described as hypocrisy, undermining tendencies, and disloyal actions within the party. 

He strongly condemned those wishing ill upon Tinubu, asserting that they will face consequences if they do not change their ways. 

Onokpasa made these remarks in a video message to party members, highlighting the ongoing controversies surrounding the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission's allegations against former Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and the consistent criticisms directed at former Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State as part of the purported agenda by these individuals.

Expressing concern over ill treatments, selective prosecution and hounding meted out on some prominent chieftains of the party since the emergence of Tinubu's presidency, Onokpasa alleged that the particular appointees he was referring to in Tinubu's government were behind the ordeals of former Governors Yahaya Bello, Nasir El- Rufai and Abdullahi Ganduje in order to perfect their "satanic" succession plans, while allegedly wishing that the President would no longer be around by 2027.

Referring to a particular appointee of Tinubu whose name was not mentioned, the chieftain said, "You drive Rufai away, you start hounding Ganduje, although there are other things involved, you start attacking Yahaya Bello, what did you do? You don't have mandate my friend, you are just an appointee... you think we don't know what is going on?

"Listen, Asiwaju is a child of God. Asiwaju will rule this country for eight complete years. There is nothing anybody can do about that. He will rule this first four years, he will so perform, Nigerians, again, will vote for him and next time around, we will win a majority of the total votes cast. So, all these your satanic plans, plotting that our President will not make it to 2027, you are wasting your time. Get that through your head."

The party chieftain, who Nigerians know to be a die-hard supporter of President Tinubu, also angrily bemoaned what he called the attitude of "using and dumping" people who worked for the victory of the President in 2023, while those who were against the President and even insulted him, were being given priorities "over authentic supporters and genuine Batists."

Onokpasa, who was also a member of the APC Presidential Legal Team and Chairman, Tinubu Media Support Group, said, "Of recent concern to me is the case of my younger brother, His Excellency, the former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello. In this party, we have had our brother, the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai basically chased out of our party despite what he did for us to make us win. Now, it is Yahaya Bello. A few weeks or months ago, it was our National Chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje that was basically almost being chased from our party."

Blowing hot against those behind the ugly trend, who he claimed were arrogating powers to themselves at the detriment of Tinubu's wellbeing, and warning them to desist, Onokpasa stated, "Listen, we cannot tolerate such nonsense in a party. Let everybody in this party come to his senses. We know how we won election. We won election because of the grace of God, because the grace of God is upon our President, Asiwaju. We won election with the lowest margin. This our government has the lowest margin since 1999. We won with less than 40 per cent of the votes. In every other election, someone had won with 50 per cent of the votes. 

"Everybody that contributed to our victory is important to me, because me, I am a fanatical Batist. This is the way I see Bola Tinubu's administration. Bola Tinubu is a child of grace. The way I see it, God wants Bola Tinubu to be our President and we need him to be our President for eight years. What we should all square up to right now is a question of, there is no need to beat about the bush; there are people in our party who don't believe in our President. For whatever reason they feel, I don't know where they went to, that's their headache."

He cautioned those wishing Tinubu dead, stressing that the president would make it beyond 2027.

"Even after that eight years, he (Tinubu) will become an elder stateman for many years after that and none of you ... all of you doing this rubbish, if you don't repent, Asiwaju will attend all of your funerals. I am the one that is saying it," he said.

Onokpasa recounted how a young man died in Edo State after wishing the President dead, saying, "I will like to share a story with you. There was this young man in Delta State where I come from. He had the guts to come to me and he said, uncle, this man, Bola Tinubu that you are supporting is going to die before the election and I told him, are you the God that created him? Do you know what happened? May his soul rest in peace, he died before Bola Tinubu won election."

"There are people in this party who don't believe in Asiwaju, they never believe that Asiwaju can make it to 2027. Do you know what? All these people, if they don't repent, Asiwaju will attend all of their funerals. They are mad! They don't have mandate, it is Asiwaju we voted for, it is Asiwaju that has mandate, it is Asiwaju that is the President. And we need Asiwaju to run complete eight years to finally make this country the pride of the black race," APC chieftain stated.

On the Bello-EFCC controversy, he said it was for the court to decide, stating, "Nobody is supporting corruption. However, we fight corruption according to law and you will not have a personal indifference with somebody and then you use the instrumentality of office to torment that person. We will not tolerate that in this party. We must not."

He also lambasted a particular appointee that he portrayed to be high-handed, alleging that the appointee funded an opposition member against the APC candidate, Usman Ododo, during the Kogi State governorship election. 

The popular Tinubu loyalist said, "I mean, can you imagine the nonsense. You sponsored somebody who left our party, he used to be a member of our party committee, you claim to be a member of our party, you now sponsor him against our own candidate, Usman Ododo, you give him money, he lost, we defeated him. Sorry! Then, you say his lawyer, my learned friend, Jibril Okutepa, he is the one that you now brief to torment Yahaya Bello? 

"I am very proud of Yahaya Bello, Yahaya Bello helped Asiwaju to win election. Anybody who helped Asiwaju to win election is my brother. He is my father's son that my mother gave birth to. I don't owe you any apology, who are you? Nonsense! You will turn all of us to cowards?"