…… Supporting Tinubu is not by force for a 60-year-old like me,’ Ojudu replies those ‘threatening’ him for not backing APC national leader
The Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojudu, says he has been receiving threat messages from “irritants” for declaring that he won’t support the presidential ambition of All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Ojudu stressed that his decision not to support Tinubu was based on personal conviction, adding that any coercion to do otherwise would not be democratic.
In a statement on Tuesday, Ojudu, who works in the Office of the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), said his refusal to support the presidential aspiration of the former Lagos governor should not portray him as a betrayer.
According to the statement titled, ‘Principled Political Choices are not Betrayal’, the presidential aide said though he had benefited from Tinubu’s kindness in the past, he was not made by the APC leader.
Ojudu wrote, “The idea that everyone who has related with Tinubu and disagrees with him on this presidential bid is a traitor and a betrayal is puerile. Many of us, his associates, were not made by him as you also want the world to believe.
“We were already made before meeting him and in the cause of relating we gave one another a helping hand.
“So, on this matter of 2023, I wish him (Tinubu) well but I cannot in good conscience give him my support or cast my vote for him in the coming primary. It is my right.
“I am above 60 years of age for God sake. I almost died seeking this inalienable democratic rights, held up in detention and severally tortured. Your god is not my god.
“Let no one think he can browbeat or blackmail me to do what does not go with my conscience or my ideals. Enough of your phone threats and embarrassment of my family members.”
“For the irritants who have been sending threat messages to me and members of my family or calling to abuse me for not supporting Tinubu, do know that is not democracy.”