After keeping a track record of constantly dodging important campaign events the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, did the one thing we thought he could never do — attend a presidential town hall…
…in Chatham House, London.
Nigerans were confused when they heard the news on December 5, 2022, and they wondered why Tinubu would leave all the presidential town halls in Nigeria to attend one overseas.
Well, if there’s anything we know, it’s that a Tinubu show is never boring. Here are highlights of what went down during his Chatham house appearance:
“My birth, academic records are consistent”
Tinubu took advantage of the outing to throw a comeback shot at all the haters doubting the genuineness of his birth and academic records. According to Tinubu, his date of birth and transcript clearly show March 29, 1952. Of course, this is easy to say, considering his birth certificate can’t be found in the first place.
He also boasted of Deloitte training him as an accountant and Mobil attesting to his outstanding performance. There was no one there to remind him Deloitte already denied his record as an employee:
The Atiku diss
Really, can you say Tinubu is at an event if he hasn’t tackled his fellow political rivals? Definitely not. As he was verifying speculations concerning his Tinubu surname, the BAT dared his critics to request a DNA test, saying that “one of them (a presidential candidate) has been accused of not being a Nigerian.”
In case you’re wondering who it is, look no further than this guy:
PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar
In 2019, the Incorporated Trustees of Egalitarian Mission for Africa (EMA) filed a lawsuit against Atiku Abubakar for vying for the presidency in the 2019 elections, since he was born in Jada, Cameroon before it became a part of Nigeria. However, the court dismissed the suit in February 2022 and called EMA a “busy body”.
The APC team strategy
Instead of continually making gaffes whenever he speaks, Tinubu decided to take the easy way out by making his homies answer questions for him.
People online were already disappointed that Tinubu was handing down important questions about his future policies to his minions team to answer, but it got even worse when he asked Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, to answer the question on security. This is a governor that terrorists have killed over 400 people in his state in the span of six months.
“I don’t do live interviews because I’m marketable”
During the town hall, a journalist had the courage to ask Tinubu why he’s not been granting requests for interviews and debates in Nigeria. To that, Tinubu replied that he sees himself as a “marketable individual”, and thus, he would not be used to make money.
A slight gaffe appeared
Most people considered the Chatham outing was one without gaffes. But Tinubu still managed to create a new word while trying to pronounce “magnificent.”
Reno Omokri fans clash with Tinubu stans
Social media influencer and former special assistant to Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, decided to take his opposition of Tinubu to the streets of London in front of Chatham House. His supporters engaged in a shouting match with Tinubu stans. Omokri and his supporters shouted “Tinubu, drugs, Tinubu, heroine,” in an apparent dig at the APC presidential candidate. Tinubu’s supporters, who held placards, chanted, “Tinubu for President.” They also sang, “On your mandate, we shall stand.”
We wonder who won.
