The next Iyaloja: Tinubu upbraids PDP, journalists for “flashing rumours as stories”

Two days ago, the former Lagos governor and ACN chieftain, Bola Tinubu, came under severe criticism from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as well as some social commentators, over allegations that he had disclosed during the 8-day Fidau Prayer for his late mother, that his sister, Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, would succeed his mother as the president of the Association of Market Women and Men in Lagos state.

The ACN publicity secretary in the state, Joe Igbokwe, denied the reports when it first broke saying “it is not true and can never be true. We don’t have time for that.”

Now, Bola Tinubu’s office has disclosed that the news was “simply a rumor and a wicked attempt to desecrate the memory of Tinubu’s mother.” They said that a careful review of the tape for the event would show that Tinubu did not say any such thing at any point during or after the event as is now being “salaciously bandied about in the media.”

The statement further disclosed that Tinubu never said a word during the entire programme.
“It takes very little effort to investigate whether Tinubu made such pubic pronouncement. Special tributes to the late mother of Tinubu were read by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Sunday Dare, while the vote of thanks was delivered by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola.

“One would hope that journalists and bloggers would ask questions and dig a bit deeper before flashing rumours as stories. You cannot put a man in jail simply because you suspect him of something or because you think he will do something in the future.”

Tinubu accused the PDP of being on a pre-emptive strike.
“Their press statement should be seen that of a guilty weakling who is screaming and weeping, scared of vanishing into the nothingness they know they are.”

A source told The Scoop that indeed Tinubu never made the said statement during his mother’s 8-day Firdau prayer. The source however revealed that one of Tinubu’s sisters who had been acting for Madam Mogaji for four years due to the woman’s old age, might continue in that role. The source also told The Scoop that “PDP’s accusation that Tinubu had called for a meeting with the market leaders for Tuesday to break the news to them was clearly false as the former governor spent the whole day in Ibadan.”