Kashamu joins issues with Tinubu for rebuffing his commendation

Kashamu joins issues with Tinubu for rebuffing his commendationOgun East Senator-Elect and leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, mobilization committee in the South West, Buruji Kashamu, has reacted to the excoriation he got for adopting the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu as his mentor.

Noting that former president Olusegun Obasanjo forgave Tinubu even when no Nigerian politician ever criticized him when he was the sitting president like Tinubu did, Kashamu regretted that rather than take his commendation of him in good light, Tinubu was directing veiled criticism at him.

According to him, “As a true party man, I campaigned vigorously for my party and its candidates. Now, the elections are over, and as a true sportsman, I thought I should congratulate those who won.

“For me, it is high time politicians and leaders rose above petty issues and raised the bar in constitutional democracy. We should not just be democrats in words but also in deeds. We should play politics without bitterness,” he posited.

The Senator-elect expressed his disappointment in a statement issued on Tuesday evening.

He said, “My attention has been drawn to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reaction to the innocuous congratulatory messages that I sent to him and other leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“First, I must say that I doubt if the statement was approved by him. However, if it was, I must state that I am taken aback by the unwarranted attacks against me as if we were still campaigning. It is unbecoming of someone of his stature and calibre.
 
“He accused me of purchasing my election with money, the appropriate forum to prove that is the election petitions tribunal and not the pages of newspaper”.

The APC national leader had in reply to Kashamu’s adulation of him, said: “Please keep your peace until you make your trip to the USA as a Senator elect. Upon your return we can then have a conversation. We can then proceed with your repudiation of the PDP with a promise that you will stop corrupting and fouling the political system.”

Reacting to this, the Senator-elect explained, “On the US case, I wish to state for the umpteenth time that the United States, as the bastion of democracy and the rule of law, would not lend itself to any form of abuse of the fundamental human rights of an innocent soul, especially one that has been arrested, tried and freed by its most trusted ally – the United Kingdom.

“I am not running from any trial. All I have asked is for the relevant parties to follow due process – if they believe that I yet have a case to answer.

“I believe in the supremacy of the almighty Allah who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish. He is the ultimate decider of the fate of all mortals. When He says yes, no man can say no and when He says no, no man can say yes!” he said.