Former Osun State Governor and ex-Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, has revealed that President Bola Tinubu was initially reluctant to run for office, stating that he had to persuade him to contest for the presidency.
Speaking on State Affairs, a podcast hosted by journalist Edmund Obilo, Akande disclosed that Tinubu resisted discussions about the presidency and even quarreled with those who brought up the topic.
“I instigated him. I encouraged him. I worked for it. Somebody called me ‘come ooo, there’s trouble.’ And I was in Lagos, they said anybody that talks to him about presidency, he was quarreling with them. That anybody that mentioned presidency, he was quarreling with them. And then I met him, and he said ‘Baba, do you have money?’ If I had the kind of money that people need to be President, I would rank with Dangote. He said that to me. Shortly before COVID and ENDSARS.”
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Akande further explained that his insistence was not about Tinubu personally but about securing the presidency for the Yoruba people.
“That’s what he said to me. And I said ‘look, we don’t want you to be President because of you. You’re unimportant in this matter. But that in your Yoruba tradition, when you want to worship the deity, you take the fattest animal or the biggest yam to worship the deity.
“‘Yoruba wants to be President. And you’re the one we have now. It’s to sacrifice you, so that we can have President. Not for you to be anything.’
“He didn’t know what to say. He was just looking at me as if I was sick or something. He was just sober.”
According to the elder statesman, Tinubu also expressed concerns about his health at the time.
“And he asked question: ‘Baba, you now said I should run, what about my leg,’ then he was having a bad leg. You know, Arthritis. Then I said ‘go and do it, there’s still time. Go and do it, you’d heal in six months and you start walking again. And you can run.’ And he went to fix it.”
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