Former spokesman for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and leader in the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Segun Showunmi, has described President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as smarter than his opponents including Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
Showunmi was spokesman for the 2023 presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku.
Defending his visit to the Lagos abode of Tinubu on Sunday, Showunmi said meeting the President, from the rival All Progressives Congress (APC), did not translate to betraying Atiku and PDP.
He said: “I am at liberty as an adult to take decisions,” Showunmi told Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday. “I am not tied to anybody. I am not anti-Tinubu.
“I own my mouth, I own my words, and I own my arguments.
“I’ve been in this party forever. The only time we go to them is after they’ve lost and we need to shore them up. Do you know the difference between Bola and them? He doesn’t have one approach to dealing with everybody. By miles, he (Tinubu) is smarter than them. He is smarter than Peter Obi, he is smarter than them.”
On arguments that he had betrayed Atiku, Showunmi said Atiku was running a coalition that he was not part of: “Is he (Atiku) running for President now? He’s running a coalition that everybody knows I am not part of. Why would even in your wildest dream think I don’t have my individuality because of what? Do you know how long I have been in the party?”
Narrating the sequence of events, Showunmi said the President invited him to his Bourdillon residence in the highbrow Ikoyi area of the state during the Eid celebrations.
He said: “it’s not a bad time to have a conversation with the President”.
“I was concerned that this democracy was faltering and I don’t think it was his fault. I do not understand after about 24 years, political parties would just suddenly assume that they have an escape route of blaming others for their woes. I didn’t like that.
“I began to be a little bit uncomfortable with the demonising of all policies by those who don’t understand what it takes to design futuristic ideas that could work.
“I decided to engage him since people talk about his frailty. So, I jumped on that investigation.”
“His brain is very alert, he is fit. You know when you are asking someone questions and he is answering without looking at the book.
“I just believe that there comes a time in the life of a nation where you must try to be sure whether the direction a leader is going is the right direction or at least whether it is the intended direction and I guarantee you, he is smart —above average.”
