*TMSG to ex-VP Atiku: President Tinubu did no wrong in his respon
By Danladi Ahmed
The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has said there is no basis for President Bola Tinubu to apologise to Catholic Bishops as suggested by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar because the president showed courtesy to the revered clerics.
According to the group, the President did nothing wrong in his response to issues raised by the delegation of Catholic Bishops during their recent visit to the Presidential villa.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, TMSG argued that many of the issues tabled before the President, aside from the economy, were constitutional and his response was proper and appropriate.
The statement read in part: “We are not surprised that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has again jumped into the fray, this time raising issues from the recent visit by a delegation of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) to President Bola Tinubu. This stems from his usual unbridled penchant for playing to the gallery. For him, nothing is too significantly small or big to play politics with. To him, it’s a zero sum game.
“In Atiku’s view, the Catholic bishops showed ‘rare courage by looking the president in the face and telling him the bitter truth’ but a close look at President Tinubu’s response showed that he addressed the issues raised by the clerics properly, coherently and appropriately.
“It is on record that in the course of the visit, the Bishops reeled out a litany of the country’s economic, social, and security challenges but we wonder where former Vice President Abubakar would situate their demand for the return of mission schools nationwide.
“Like the President, we are surprised that it was an issue, and for the avoidance of doubt, he was right in his assertion that state governors have the authority to take a decision on it and even cited the decision he took in 2001 which made him the first Nigerian governor to return such schools to the missions.
“As we now know, the Catholic Bishops were blisteringly acerbic in their position on the economy but we dare say that their host also reserves the right and has a responsibility to make clarifications on how his administration had, since assuming office, been stabilizing the economy to the extent that all necessary economic indices back his position.
“From what we now know, President Tinubu did not act oblivious to many of the issues tabled before him because he would have anticipated them. This is why he pointed to the verifiable and measurable progress his administration has made on the economy, and particularly security.
“As the one in the driver seat, he wasted no time to inform his guests about progress acknowledging also that significant challenges remain.
“But knowing the former Vice President and his co-travelers for who they are, it did not take long for them to make it look like the Presidency, and by extension, President Tinubu, acted as if everything was rosy.
“Truth be told, even in public fora, the President is known to have demonstrated a good grasp of the trends. He has always spoken about the pains of his reforms, and only recently citing ‘unnecessary flyovers’ being built by some governors in their domains while urging them instead to utilise their increased federal allocations to improve citizens’ quality of life, fix basic road networks, and boost security.”
On President Tinubu’s stance on INEC’s neutrality, the group believes he spoke in line with constitutional provisions. As the chief executive of the entire federation in charge of Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs), he spoke in defence of INEC as one who took an oath to defence the State.
“‘It is within his remit to speak in a manner that ensures that local and global confidence in a critical national institution such as INEC is at an all time high. That was exactly what he did. It does not matter whether the opposition holds a diametrically-opposed position. What matters most is that posterity is the ultimate judge””, the group said.
End.