We read with dismay and utter disgust the piece of mercenary drivel issued by one Joe Igbokwe, a well known hack writer and fair weather scribbler before he graduated into the position of the Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State.
Mr Joe Igbokwe had accused the former Deputy National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, of peddling lies against APC National Leader, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his comment on the revelation by Mr Kola Abiola that Tinubu lobbied the Abacha regime for appointment while pretending to be pursuing the revalidation of the annulled presidential election of June 12, 1993 widely believed to have been won by Chief M K O Abiola.
It is obvious from the statement that Mr Igbokwe is both ignorant of Tinubu’s political past and mischievously trying to rewrite history to defend his principal. Tinubu himself knows that what Kola Abiola said, which was merely corroborated by Chief George, is very true.
Tinubu indeed lobbied for appointment. He was desperate to be relevant in the new Abacha regime after the regime had sacked the then Interim National Government (ING) headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan and all other civilian political structures including the State Governments, State Houses of Assembly, the House of Representatives and the Senate of which he was a member.
He begged for the three positions mentioned in succession after learning that the regime might not de-annul the election. The first two positions of civilian state administrator (not sole administrator erroneously mentioned by Igbokwe) and civilian deputy administrator were not available because that was not in the regime’s plan. But the third position of state commissioner he fell back on was denied him. He then went back to activism.
For the avoidance of doubt, Chief Bode George, who was a top official of the Abacha regime in his position as the Principal Staff Officer to General Oladipo Diya, the then Chief of General Staff and number two man in the regime, was well aware of Tinubu’s visits to General Diya’s office to lobby for appointment because his office coordinated the administration of the states.
This is a fact that cannot be denied. General Diya whom Tinubu lobbied for appointment is still alive. If Igbokwe is still in doubt, he should ask Tinubu to tell him the plain truth rather than falsely accusing Chief George and Kola Abiola of peddling lies about him.
With regard to Igbokwe’s allegation that Chief George is always looking for an opportunity to attack Tinubu, this is also not true. Chief George’s criticism of Tinubu has always been civil, impersonal and credible, focusing on the need to liberate Lagos State from Tinubu’s oppressive hegemony which had been sustained by electoral brigandry and manipulation of the economic resources of the state to the detriment of the people.
We are glad that majority of stakeholders of the state have keyed into this message as shown by their support for the PDP in the last general election which was again manipulated through violent disruption of voting process and rigging in many areas where the PDP had massive support of the electorate in the state.
*Tokunboh Adelowo
Publicity Secretary
Lagos State PDP Youth Vanguard.
