The lawmaker representing Suleja/Tafa And Gurara federal constituency of Niger State in the House of Representatives, Hon. Abubakar Lado Suleja, has given reasons why he addressed national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Mr. President during a recent visit to the latter in London.
Recall that Asiwaju Tinubu has, for a while, been in London, for reported medical reasons.
The former Lagos State governor is rumoured to have undergone a series of surgery on his knee.
There were claims that he underwent another knee surgery at the John Hopkins University Hospital in Maryland, the United States.
It was gathered that the former Lagos State Governor returned to the United Kingdom on crutches after undergoing the successful surgery.
Tinubu in the past few months has received political office holders and prominent individuals in London, United Kingdom.
Last Friday, some Northern federal lawmakers visited the National Leader of the APC, Tinubu in London.
The legislators were led on the visit by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase.
During the visit, a lawmaker was heard referring to the former Lagos State governor as Mr. President.
Like a wildfire, the video of the visit to Asiwaju Tinubu by lawmakers emerged and went viral.
In the video, one of the lawmakers addressing Tinubu as Mr President, to which the former Lagos Governor who is one of those said to be eyeing the presidency in 2023 also responded thank you as captured in the video which went viral on the internet.
“Mr. President, see you soon,” the lawmaker had said and Tinubu responded by saying ‘Thank you’.
It was later discovered that Hon. Suleja was the ‘voice crying in the wilderness.’
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When contacted for confirmation and clarification, the Hon. Suleja acknowledged calling Asiwaju Tinubu ‘Mr. President’ but, however, added that he put Insha Allah which means ‘by God’s grace.’
The federal lawmaker said this when he was questioned by reporters who reached out to him on whether his statement doesn’t imply that Nigeria now has two presidents.
He said: “No, we don’t have two presidents. Maybe you didn’t listen to the video very well because when I said ‘Mr President’, Insha Allah followed it, which means by God’s grace.”
The lawmaker added that it was their wish for Tinubu to become the next President of Nigeria in 2023.
“We are praying for him to become the future president of Nigeria. We have only one president who is President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the leader of our party and our mentor but we are praying for Asiwaju to be the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and continue from where President Buhari will stop. That is what I meant.”
He also denied speculations that the lawmakers were in London to endorse Tinubu for the 2023 presidency, saying it was rather a visit to check up on him health-wise.
He said it would be wrong to assume they were there for the purpose of endorsement, adding that such a position will insinuate that everyone who had visited Tinubu in London including President Buhari himself was there for endorsement purposes.
“The purpose of our visit was to see his health condition, to pray for him, and wish him well. He is very okay and as you can see from the video clip, he looks fine. He stood for almost one hour addressing us.”
He added that, “No, the visit was not for endorsement, we are his loyalists, fans and he is our leader. If people are saying it is for endorsement, then it will mean President Buhari has endorsed him because it was President Buhari who first visited him.”
