In a startling revelation, Barrister Jesutega Onakpasa, a stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a key member of the party’s Presidential Legal team, has come out swinging against what he perceives as a disturbing trend within the party.
In a fiery speech addressing party members, Barr. Onokpasa minced no words as he denounced what he termed as the “status of using and dumping people” within the APC.
Expressing deep concern over recent developments within the party, Barr. Jesutega highlighted the cases of two prominent figures: former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, and former Governor of Kogi, Yahaya Bello.
He lamented the treatment meted out to these individuals despite their significant contributions to the party’s success in past elections.
Drawing parallels between the fate of El-Rufai and Bello, Barr. Jesutega pointed out the irony of party members who had previously criticised and insulted the party leadership being given preferential treatment over loyal supporters.
He emphasised the need for unity and solidarity within the party ranks, urging members to remember the grace of God that had led them to victory in previous elections.
In a poignant anecdote, Barr. Jesutega recounted a chilling encounter with a detractor who had predicted the demise of Bola Tinubu before the elections.
The untimely death of the skeptic before Tinubu’s victory served as a stark reminder of the unpredictability of fate and the need for unwavering support for the party’s leadership.
Addressing the alleged victimization of party members who had stood by President Tinubu, Barr. Jesutega issued a stern warning to those he deemed as “appointees” without a mandate.
He condemned any attempts to undermine the president and called for adherence to due process in addressing grievances within the party.
In a passionate plea, Barr. Jesutega reaffirmed his unwavering support for Bola Tinubu’s presidency, declaring him as a “child of grace” destined to lead the nation. He called on party members to rally behind Tinubu’s leadership and work towards securing his tenure for a complete eight years.
He said, “Hello, my dear members of the All Progressives Congress. I am very sad just to take our note with her. I was a member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council and a member of the Tinubu Presidential Legal team. I campaigned for our dear president and I defended you in court. Now of recent. I have noticed a certain trend in our party, a trend that is emerging and the status of using and dumping people. Where, people who insulted us, insulted our president are even given priority over, authentic supporters, genuine parties.
“Of recent concern to me is the case of, my, Yeah, he, my younger brother, His Excellency, the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.
“In this party, we have had our brother, the former Governor of Kaduna, Nasir El-Rufai, basically chased out of our party despite what he did for us to get us to victory. Now it is Yahaya Bello. A few weeks or months ago, it was our National chairman.
“His Excellency, Abdulai Ganduje that was, in fact almost dished out of the party. Listen, we cannot tolerate such nonsense in the party. Let everybody in this party come to his senses. We know how we won the election. We won election because of the grace of God. Because the grace of God is upon our president Asiwaju. We won the election with the lowest margin since 1999.
“This our government has the lowest margin since 1999. We won with less than 40% of the votes. In every other election, someone has won with more than 50% of the votes. Everybody that contributed to our victory is important to me because, I’m a fanatical Batist. This is the way I see Bola Tinubu administration. Bola Tinubu is a child of Grace.
“The way I see it, God wants Bola Tinubu to be our president. And we need him to be a president for eight years. What we should all square up to right now is a question of there is no need to beat about the bush. There are people in our party who don’t believe in our president for whatever reason they feel. I don’t know whereever they went to, that is their headache.
“I would like to share a story with you. There was this young man in Delta where I come from, he had the guts to come to me and said, Uncle, this man Bola Tinubu that you are supporting, he is going to die before the election. And I told him, are you the God that created him? Do You know what happened, may his soul rest in peace, he died before Bola Tinubu won the election.
“Now, in this party right now, there are people, for some, whatever reason, I don’t, that’s your headache who don’t believe in our president and they feel they should start basically discarding those who supported him to come to power so that they, these are people without mandate, they are appointees. These are people who lost their states. These are people who run election the same day with the president. They won their own and lost that of the president. Yes they did. Okay.
“These are people who lost election to women. And then they want to chase our party members. Who are you? You don’t have mandate, you are an appointee, my friend. Behave yourself. You are undermining out president. Nobody is supporting corruption. Nobody. However, we fight corruption according to law. And you will not have, a personal difference with somebody and then you use the instrumentality of office to torment that person. We will not tolerate that in this party. We must not. People in this party, there are people in this party who don’t believe in Asiwaju. They don’t believe that Asiwaju may even make it to 2027? Do you know what? They don’t have mandate. We voted for Asiwaju. It is Asiwaju that have mandate.
“It is Asiwaju that is our present and we need Asiwaju to run a complete eight years to finally make this country the pride of the Black Race. All right. So all these nonsense, you drive El-Rufai away. You start hounding Ganduje, you start attacking Yahaya Bello, what did you do? You lost your seat, my friend, go and sit down in one corner. Telling me rubbish. Did you not lose election in your state? Did you win the election in your constituency? You won for yourself but you lost for Asiwaju…”
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