Pastor Aribasala brands Tinubu As A Bad Student Of History

Pastor, Femi Aribisala has described a National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu "an experienced politician, but a bad student of history."

He said this while reacting to the allegation of conspiracy against Tinubu by some Northern politicians within the APC. Tinubu had demanded the resignation of APC’s National Chairman, John Oyegun over his decision to overrule its Appeal Committee which recommended the cancellation of the Ondo governorship primary election. 

Aribisala, a social commentator and public analyst, in an interview with the Punch berated Tinubu for opting to continually form alliance with the North which has never had “any progressive pretensions.”

According to Aribisala, “Tinubu is an experienced politician, but a bad student of history.

“In 2011, he formed an alliance with Abubakar Atiku and the People Democratic Movement, who represents a more progressive part of the North, but could not prevail against the colossus of the PDP.

“Therefore, in 2015, he entered into an alliance with Buhari and the core North, which has never even had any progressive pretensions. There is nothing progressive about President Buhari.

“Everything about the president’s politics was smoke and mirrors. He commanded the support of a significant number of the Northern poor, in spite of the fact that there is absolutely nothing in his CV about advancing the interests of the poor.

“He is a conservative politician opposed to any restructuring of Nigeria’s polity through a national conference. His only claim to popular appeal is a questionable belief that he is anti-corruption.

“It was only a matter of time before uneasy bed-fellows of the APC came to logger-heads. Once the election was won, the APC started falling apart. The PDP wing of the party conducted a coup and hijacked the National Assembly. Now the organs of the party have been wrenched from Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria.”

He added that the anti-graft war of the Buhari-led administration was just a mere fight targeted at the opposition parties.

He said, “There is actually no real war against corruption going on today. There is not even a fight against corruption, how much more a war. What we have is a government attempt to decimate the opposition and create a de facto one-party state under the guise of fighting against corruption.

“The PDP was not the only party in power before 2015. Parties of the APC coalition were also in power at the state level. So why is it that only the PDP is being prosecuted?

“You cannot fight corruption with corruption. That is what the government has been doing. You cannot fight corruption by abrogating the rule of law. We have heard so much hyperbole about this fight against corruption, but with very little actual results. It has all been just one big propaganda exercise. The fight against corruption has become a poor and pathetic make-shift substitute for effective public policy.

“As we get closer and closer to 2019, the fighting will become more vicious and more incendiary. I don’t expect the APC to survive.”