A member of the House of Representatives, Abubakar Lado Suleja (APC,Niger) has opened up on why he referred to the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as Mr President during their visit to him in London last week.
Top politicians from across the country, including governors, have been thronging to London to visit Tinubu who has been there for over three months for medical attention.
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Last week, during the visit of the Northern Caucus of the House of Representatives to the APC national leader, a lawmaker was heard referring to the former Lagos State governor as Mr President.
Like a wildfire, the video of the visit led by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ahmed Wase, went viral.
In the video, one of the lawmakers told Tinubu; “Mr President, see you soon.”
Tinubu, who is one of those said to be eyeing the presidency in 2023, responded by saying “Thank you.”
Our correspondent gathered that it was Suleja, who represents Suleja/Tafa/Gurara Federal Constituency of Niger State at the House of Representatives that addressed Tinubu as Mr President.
When contacted via phone, Suleja confirmed addressing Tinubu as Mr President and when asked if the country now has two presidents, he said: “No, we don’t have two presidents, maybe you didn’t listen to the video very well because when I said Mr President, Insha Allah followed it, which means by God’s grace.
“We are praying for him to become the future president of Nigeria. We have only one president who is President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the leader of our party and our mentor but we are praying for Asiwaju to be the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and continue from where President Buhari will stop. That is what I meant.”
On why they visited Tinubu, he said; “The purpose of our visit was to see his health condition, to pray for him and wish him well. He is very okay and as you can see from the video clip, he looks fine. He stood for almost one hour addressing us.”
Suleja faulted the claims that their visit was to endorse the candidature of Tinubu for the presidency.
“No, the visit was not for endorsement, we are his loyalists, fans and he is our leader. If people are saying it is for endorsement, then it will mean President Buhari has endorsed him because it was President Buhari who first visited him.”
Meanwhile, traditional rulers of the Badagry Division of Lagos State have endorsed Tinubu for the 2023 presidency.
The traditional rulers made the pronouncement at a town hall meeting organised by the South West Agenda (SWAGA’23) in Lagos.
The SWAGA team led by its chairman, Senator Dayo Adeyeye, had since weekend stormed Lagos, the home of Tinubu, as part of its campaign for Tinubu presidency.
Some of the traditional rulers at the event included Oba Dr Momodu Afolabi, the Onijanikin of Ijanikin; Oba Nofiu Dada Elete of Ete Kingdom; Oba Abideen Adekanbi, Osolu of Osolu Kingdom; Oba Mobadenle Oyekan Onilado of Ilado; Oba Caleb Adeniyi, Olojo of Ojo; Oba Dr N. A. Akinyemi, Alabirun of Ikare Kingdom; Oba Dr Taofik Adegboyega, Alahun of Imore Apapa; and Oba Gausu Rasak Ovaria of Ibeshe.
Senator Adeyeye thanked the Badagry traditional rulers for the endorsement, saying most of the political parties had endorsed Tinubu.
The Akran of Badagry who spoke through Oba Agano Toniyoni Aholu of Agbamathen, said, “We are strongly behind Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and we pray that God will make our request a dream come through. Even the blind and deaf in the country can attest to his good deeds.
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