Senator Carpets Tinubu over Saraki

By Deji Elumoye in Abuja

A member of the National Assembly, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, has chastised the leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, over his recent utterances about members of the upper chamber of the National Assembly.

Tinubu had at a public function attended by Senate Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, in Ibadan , the Oyo state capital, accused some Senators of political prostitution in the build-up to the election of the 8th Senate President on June 7, 2015.

The former governor of Lagos state  had said “Senator Lawan would have led the most important arm of our government more effectively but the political prostitutes, robbers and their collaborators denied him of the Senate Presidency because of selfishness and self aggrandisement”.

Reacting to the allegation, Senator Ibrahim (Kwara South) told THISDAY yesterday that  such allegation was unbecoming of an elder statesman like Tinubu.

“With a little apology to Tinubu, it is unfortunate that such utterances were coming from an elder statesman like him.”

According to him, Tinubu should seek caution in his public utterances “ because good leaders don’t talk down on people the way he does and should note that his being a leader today does not mean he will be leader forever”.

He added that there are leaders at various political levels “ and I can say with emphasis that our own leaders don’t talk to us the way Tinubu is talking”.

Ibrahim who is the Chairman of Senate Committee on Banks and other Financial Institutions, said he was neither a political prostitute nor a robber in the events that culminated in Senator Lawan losing the Senate Presidency to Dr. Bukola Saraki on June 7, 2015.

He went further” I reject being called a political prostitute in totality and can also say this about my other APC Senators then because I knew no money  exchanged hands but we voted based on our conviction”.

Ibrahim said Tinubu was to blame for planning to impose a leadership on the Senate without carrying along APC Senators. He wondered why the former Lagos governor is still pained by what transpired over three and half years ago.

“You haunted and persecuted Dr Saraki since his emergence as Senate President and it took the ruling of the Supreme Court for him to be vindicated

“So, when there was no sincere reconciliation, we left the APC for them. Now, Tinubu is now referring to an old issue forgetting that he and others caused the problem then,” the Senator added.