I Was Lobbied After I Initially Rejected Tinubu's Appointment To Campaign Council – Naja’atu Mohammed

A former chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Naja’atu Mohammed, has revealed the reason she met with the party’s flagbearer, Bola Tinubu, in London, the United Kingdom.

Mohammed, who recently resigned as a Director in the APC Presidential Campaign Council, said Tinubu invited her to London after she initially rejected his appointment to serve in the campaign council.

In an interview with newsmen, Mohammed said when she finally met Tinubu, the former Governor of Lagos State failed to convince her to support his ambition.

She added that during the meeting, Tinubu said he does not have any blueprint for the insecurity in the North because he would be stepping on too many toes, and he might be assassinated.

She said, “One day, Hon Faleke called me. I didn’t know Faleke from Adam. I was on a flight when he called to introduce himself. And then he said, “Please, ma, we want you to be on the campaign council; we want you to be a director.” I said no, why? I don’t want to be the director of your campaign.

“Faleke started saying Please, ma, and I said no. “You are embarrassing me,” because it is not good for anybody to be begging you; it is very embarrassing, and if you don’t accept it, you appear to be arrogant. He asked why I didn’t want the appointment. I said because I haven’t sat with Tinubu, I haven’t seen him, he hasn’t told us what he had for us up North, and at this point in time and at my age, I cannot be a zombie. He kept pleading with me, and we agreed half way.

“So, he said, ‘Okay, ma, by the time you see Asiwaju, if you are not satisfied with what he has to say to you, then you can opt out. We agreed on that. After that, I saw a call several times, which I did not answer, and then they sent me a text saying that Asiwaju wanted to talk with me, and I said I would be waiting.’

“So Tinubu called me and said ‘Hajiya, please forgive me, but I respect your stance on not accepting my appointment. However, I want you to hear me out. Can you come over to London?’ I said yes. That night, I purchased my ticket, and I took a Lufthansa flight the next day to arrive in London the day after. That same evening, I was taken to Asiwaju by one Ibrahim Masari, and we sat down.

“So when I met Tinubu in London, I said sir, what have you got for us up north? What is your blueprint for our situation? Tinubh said he didn’t have a blueprint and I said sir, how can you rule without a blueprint?

“He said the reason is because he would be stepping on too many toes, and they might kill him. I thought that was silly. I said, sir, if you don’t have a blueprint, then how do you rule? By the time you get power, there will be a lot of distractions. So, he said, if I have anything that I want to include in his manifesto, I should go ahead.”