2023: Onanuga denies dumping Tinubu for Osinbajo

The Chief Executive Officer of TheNews Group, Bayo Onanuga, has described as false, the report making the rounds that he was against the presidential ambition of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.

Onanuga debunked the report that all Tinubu’s allies when he was governor are not in support of his presidential ambition and are working for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo ahead of the 2023 general election.

He made this known via a statement he personally issued and made available to The Star on Saturday.

Onanuga, who stated that the report “is far from the truth as far as I am concerned”, noted that he was fully in support of Tinubu and not in Osinbajo’s camp.

He added that the writer of the widely-circulated report merely wrote conjectures on an issue that was unpredictable.

The statement read: “My attention has been drawn to some lies being circulated about me as having jumped the Bola Ahmed Tinubu train and being against his presidential ambition.

“The faceless writer, I guess a hatchet hand wrote: Almost all members of the Tinubu original power/intellectual base and allies when he was Governor are not in support of his Presidential ambition. Aregbesola, Afikuyomi, Ojudu, Onanuga, Alake, Fasola etc. Most of them may work for PYO.

“Let me correct this misrepresentation straightforwardly: the statement is far from the truth as far as I am concerned.

“I am fully in support of Bola Tinubu. I am not in PYO’s camp and will not be in his camp if Tinubu is running.

“People who know me will attest to the fact that I am ever loyal to my friends, loyal to a political cause. I have been on the political left since 1978’when I joined Awolowo’s UPN as a UNILAG student.

“I am not a renegade. And I can vouch for Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi and Dele Alake as well.

READ ALSO: Tinubu on Osinbajo: I’ve no son grown up to contest for presidency

“The author of the rumour was merely writing conjectures on an issue that is unpredictable, a party’s primary election, where an outsider will only Labour in vain in making permutations.”

Onanuga further reiterated his support for Tinubu’s presidential ambition, saying: “As far as I am concerned, and let me say it loud and clear, I am in support of Bola Tinubu’s ambition. I am not against him. He is my first choice, the second choice and the third choice for the exalted seat.

“Nigeria is in need of a visionary, a deep thinker, a man with the Midas touch, who can take our country on a journey of prosperity. This country has suffered enough and really needs a new leader who can breathe fresh air in it and change the way things are done.

“Nigeria needs a man of ideas, who will not just talk his way, but really get things done.

“I have no doubt that Bola Tinubu is capable of this, which is why I support his campaign to lead Nigeria.

“I have known him since 1992. I was part of his governorship campaign in 1998 before others were invited to his government after we won the election in January 1999.

“I was close to his government for eight years and I bore witness to the innovations he brought into governance, the overhauling of the system that he carried out, some of which other states and the Federal Government had copied.

“I have no iota of doubt that he will replicate the same at the centre, and even do more, if given the opportunity.

“These are the reasons I support his campaign. And Nigerians will hear more about my involvement in the next few days,” he stated.

The Star