Tinubu Said He Had No Money, Always Fought With Those Who Wanted Him To Contest For Presidency – Bisi Akande

A former interim National President of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bisi Akande, says President Bola Tinubu was not interested in running for the presidency.

Akande disclosed that Tinubu always fought those who wanted him to run for the presidency and also gave some excuses including lack of funds to prosecute the processes involved in contesting.

The APC chieftain said when the issue was brought to his attention in the build up to the 2023 election, he travelled to Lagos and spoke to Tinubu, urging him to look beyond his personal doubts and do it for the Yoruba nation.

Akande said Tinubu still gave the excuse about his health, but he convinced him to go for treatment on the leg, stressing that it would have healed in six months.

Naija News reports Akande made the disclosure during an interview with Edmund Obilo.

“When I met him, he said, Baba, do you have money? If I had the kind of money that people have to be president, I would rank with Dangote,” Akande quoted Tinubu to have said.

“People called me and said, ‘Come, there is trouble. Anybody that talks to him about the presidency, he was quarrelling with them.’ So, I went to Lagos and met him.

“I told him, ‘We don’t want you to be president because of you. You are unimportant in this matter. But in Yoruba tradition, when you want to worship the deity, you take the fattest animal or the biggest yam to worship. Yoruba wants to be president, and you are the one we have now. It is to sacrifice you so that we can have a president, not for you to be anything,” he added.

According to the former Osun State Governor, the new approach left Tinubu momentarily speechless.

“He was looking at me as if I was sick or something,” Akande said, adding that Tinubu later asked him, “Baba, you now say I should run. What about this, my leg?” referring to his health challenges. Akande assured him, “Go and do it. There is still time. You will heal in six months.”