The name Tinubu has been on the lips of many Nigerian citizens especially Lagosians for all the wrong reasons with regards to the recent End SARS protest and the shooting at lekki toll plaza.
Bola Tinubu, national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says he did not travel out of the country amid the #EndSARS protests.
There was the rumour that the former Lagos governor travelled out to avoid being mobbed by some angry protesters who accused him of being behind the Lekki shooting.
On Tuesday, soldiers opened fire on #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki tollgate, and this sparked off an outrage in Nigeria and across the world.
Addressing journalists after visiting Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos on Saturday, Tinubu dismissed the rumour of his travel as fake news, describing himself as ”Jagaban”.
The APC leader holds the title of Jagaban of Borgu in Niger state.
“I didn’t go nowhere; I’m a Lagosian and I still hold the title of Asiwaju of Lagos and I am still a Jagaban,” he said.
“Fake news is all over the place. They say Seyi my son was kidnapped and was chased but look at him. I didn’t pay a penny to bring him here.”
He said he had come to see the governor to ask him who ordered the shooting of protesters at the tollgate. Lagos citizens though are wondering why he is coming to seek this information from the Lagos state governor who had publicly state in a recent broadcast that he knows little or nothing of the shooting and that it was forces beyond his control that was responsible for the shootings.
Tinubu while speaking to journalist on the occasion of his visit to the governor of Lagos said that “First, we have to segregate the calendar – those who suffered casualty before the protests from the hands of SARS. You have to separate that from those who suffered casualty due to what happened at the tollgate,” he said.
“For those who suffered casualty from SARS, the commission of inquiry that is already set up will unearth that and will make their recommendations. I trust the calibre and the character of the people there, they are independent. That is one.
“Those who suffered casualty during the gunshots need to answer some questions too. Even though we want to help, we still must extract information that will help the government to prepare in future and understand how and when to react because the governor, in particular, is a youth.
“As a youth himself, he (Sanwo-Olu) quickly went to Abuja with the 5/5. The government immediately put into action, dissolved the SARS and had to work through other recommended actions, the needs they demanded. Within a few days, he reported back to the public. That is responsive enough.”
Tinubu also condemned the burning of police stations and other public infrastructure claiming that such acts do not portray the intention of what the end SARS protesters are fighting for which is a better Nigeria.
Many Nigerian do not believe the recent antics of the elder statesman and believe it’s a ploy by him to exonerate himself from the recent allegations made against him as being part of those who orchestrated the shooting at the lekki toll plaza.
Nigerian citizens within and outside the country as well as the international community are eagerly waiting for the outcome of the ongoing investigation by the federal government to see the perpetrators behind the lekki shooting and to see if all the allegations made on the Bola Tinubu would be refuted in the outcome of the investigations.
Gift Joseph Okpakorese
Staff Writer
