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Former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has defended his meeting with President Umaru Yar'adua at the Villa as a positive step towards the resolution of the political crises facing the nation and the need to encourage the new government to carry out urgent institutional reforms that would strengthen Nigeria's democracy.
Former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has defended his meeting with President Umaru Yar'adua at the Villa as a positive step towards the resolution of the political crises facing the nation and the need to encourage the new government to carry out urgent institutional reforms that would strengthen Nigeria's democracy.
The Action Congress (AC) leader, who is on vacation in the United States, said he had received calls from concerned Nigerians over alleged misrepresentation of his meeting with the new President, hence the need to clarify the issues.
Noting that it was not a secret meeting, Tinubu said President Yar'adua has been his friend for many decades as both were in the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) together. He said both of them also served as governors for eight years and nurtured excellent bilateral relations and personal friendship that transcended current party lines.
'How can an interaction between two long- term friends be misinterpreted as a secret meeting? How can a meeting of two leaders interested in resolving the political problems of the country be referred to as a secret meeting," he asked.
He said there were urgent matters that required urgent attention. These include the need to address the indiscriminate arrests and detention of Action Congress members nationwide, particularly in states where the AC had recorded excellent electoral performance.
'It was necessary to convince Mr. President that the detainees being held in poor sanitary conditions in the prisons and denied access to their families ought to be released without undermining the cases against them in court. This, indeed, is a better way for the regime to demonstrate its commitment to the rule of law."
On the need to commit the administration to institutional reforms, Asiwaju Tinubu noted that federalism needed to be overhauled so that the eight years of unitarist manipulation of the federal system could be reversed. These include the management of the revenue allocation and the electoral system.
He described as untrue speculations that he had been holding meetings with former Vice President and AC presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku, in London, adding, however, that both were resolved on the need to pursue the cases filed by the party in the courts.
'My contributions to the sustenance of the rule of law is clear to the Nigerian people. Since the struggle for the revalidation of the June 12 mandate, I have sacrificed my God-give resources to ensure that justice prevails, to demonstrate that an independent judiciary is not only the hope for our nation but the bastion of our democracy. I have left a proud and everlasting legacy in the judicial system of Lagos State.
'I have lived by example by utilising the federal judicial institutions to re-define the limits of federal powers and the rights of states as component and co-ordinate units of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I have done everything in the open. I will continue to promote and protect the values of transparency and accountability which I hold so dearly. I am not afraid of anybody, whether in the PDP or outside," he said.