BREAKING NEWS, Politics
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BOLA Ahmed Tinubu, national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has debunked the report by an online publication which quoted him as saying the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, would stop President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election bid in 2019.
The report was published by “Post Nigeria online”, and dated January 14, with headline: “I am afraid PDP will stop Buhari in 2019 – Tinubu.”
But a statement from the former Lagos State governor on Friday, January 15, alleged that the writer “concocted the latest work of political deceit.”
While expressing doubts that the writer was genuine by putting his name in such a libellous article, Tinubu challenged the writer to come forward with proofs that he granted the interview or forward his address so that his lawyer could serve him with a complaint for libel.
“The falsity of the article is patently clear in that it does not even comport with the minimal standards of journalism. The writer fails to divulge the date or the place the alleged statement was made. This omission is wilful. The writer does not state these basic facts because the meeting never happened; to give such information would make it even easier to prove his work is a lie. The writer has not seen Tinubu and has no idea where Tinubu was on any given day.
“Worse, the writer says Tinubu was speaking to newsmen. If so, why have no other newspapers carried this story? The answer is simple. There was no such meeting between Tinubu and several newsmen. Because the story is the figment of one awfully wounded.
“The story contains a long quote supposedly from Tinubu. There is no way a true journalist would have tried to transcribe this by hand. He would have taped it. We dare this journalist to produce the tape,” the statement said.
Tinubu accused the writer of trying to cause discord between him and the president. He said the plan would fail because he was ready to work with the Buahri administration to succeed and that his works would speak for him in 2019.
“For the record, Tinubu supports the government’s expansionary budget and has no qualms with its objectives and programmes. For the writer to say Tinubu complained about the figures is to pile lie upon lie.
“Whosoever wrote the story is serpentine. But their venom will not hurt Tinubu, Buhari or the APC. They are like the mad snake that mediated its own demise by biting itself,” he said.
— Jan 18, 2016 @ 12:30 GMT
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