Chatham House Speech: Atiku’s Ally Slams APC For ‘Window-Dressing’ Tinubu

The Director, Strategic Communications, of the National Election Management Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dele Momodu, chided the All Progressives Congress on Tuesday for “window-dressing” its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, during what he called the former Lagos governor’s less than impressive engagement with his audience at Chatham House, United Kingdom, on Monday.

Tinubu’s performance has continued to draw mixed reactions, particularly from Nigeria’s opposition parties who were left unimpressed by the candidate’s decision to throw some of the questions he was asked by the audience to a handful of APC chieftains, including the Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, and the immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi.

In a piece titled “Weep not for Tinubu but for Nigeria,” Momodu berated the handlers of the one-time senator for causing Nigeria “a huge embarrassment on a global stage.”

“Call it what you will, what happened at Chatham House, London, yesterday (Monday), was a complete charade. The Tinubu handlers fumbled, and bungled it big time. They showcased him like a packaged invalid.

It would have been better to present him as a brilliant politician and administrator, warts and all, who is capable of independent thoughts. No man is perfect. His gaffes would have been more pardonable and acceptable. He was expected to sell his own vision and mission.

“But what we saw yesterday was a theatre of the absurd. It brought back memories of our great former President Umaru Yar’ Adua and how he mysteriously disappeared from radar and some of his aides governed by proxy. I was one of those who led the ‘Enough is Enough’ protest against the Yar’ Adua cabal in Abuja in 2010. What was unacceptable then is even more unacceptable now with benefits of hindsight. Our country should be placed above friendship.

“Truth is, the problem of Nigeria is often aggravated by the voluptuous ambitions of some acolytes who wish to remain eternally relevant in the corridors of power at the expense of the long-suffering nation,” he said, adding that “all those around Tinubu yesterday knew the bitter truth but chose to fool Nigerians.”

He continued: “One of them was heard in a viral video telling Tinubu to dance to the popular song ‘Buga’ by Kizz Daniel because “that’s what the youths want to see,” and lo and behold, Tinubu instantly transfigured into an accomplished choreographer.

“It is very sad, and unfortunate, that whenever we think Nigeria can never sink deeper into the abyss, something occurs that jolts us out of such assumptions and complacency.”