“I betrayed Nuhu Ribadu to Help Pres. Jonathan win 2011 Elections” – Tinubu confesses
(APC) and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu, at the weekend confessed he betrayed
his own candidate for President Goodluck Jonathan
in the 2011 presidential contest.
In that contest, Mr. Jonathan was in competition
with General Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress
for Political Change, but also with Nuhu Ribadu, the
former chairman of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, who was the flagbearer of
Tinubu's Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
Curiously, while the candidates of the ACN did very
well in the legislative and gubernatorial elections,
Ribadu was trounced in all but one of the ACN
States by Mr. Jonathan. Observers have always
suspected that Tinubu, who was known to have
flown to Abuja to meet with the president just
before the election, was bought off to give victory
to Jonathan in the area.
Speaking at Onikan Stadium during an Ndigbo APC
governorship rally on Saturday, Tinubu appeared
to confirm those suspicions.
"In 2011, I helped Jonathan become President
because he made us believe he was a breath of
fresh air," the APC boss said. "I didn't say because
he was from Bayelsa that I would not help him. We
voted for him because he promised to make our
lives better. But now, he has failed us."
In the speech, Tinubu appeared to have forgotten
he did not belong to Jonathan's Peoples
Democratic Party in 2011, and that he had a
candidate in the race that was not told ACN was
voting for Jonathan. Ribadu campaigned on the
ACN platform until the end.
On Saturday, Tinubu urged the Igbo in Lagos not to
permit the politics of tribe and religion to influence
their vote, and that they should support the APC so
as to continue to reap the dividends of democracy.
"Igbo have lived here for years, and nobody has
discriminated against them," he said. "No one
would fight them because they are based in their
land. No one can determine the tribe or family
where he is born; it is only God that can do
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