Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojudu, on Tuesday, alleged that “irritants” have been sending him threat messages for declaring that he won’t support the All Progressives Congress National Leader, Bola Tinubu, in his bid for Nigeria’s presidency in 2023.
Ojudu stated that his decision not to back Tinubu for the 2023 presidential race was based on personal conviction.
He, however, added that any attempt to coerce him to do otherwise would be undemocratic.
Ojudu, who is an aide to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, made this allegation in a statement.
He said his refusal to support Tinubu’s presidential ambition should not portray him as a betrayer.
In the statement titled, ‘Principled Political Choices are not Betrayal’, Ojudu said though he had in the past benefited from the magnanimity of the former Lagos governor, it was not Tinubu that made what he has become today.
According to Ojudu’s statement, “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 course 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’s 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. It is something else. I spent my youth years fighting autocracy and intolerance of the military and I am still willing and ready, even now, to stand up for what I believe, even if it will cost me my life. Enough said.”
