Obama, it has been revealed, did not personally offer the ACN leader what he has called “a gold card invitation” to attend the party’s convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
This development is the latest in Tinubu’s line of controversial claims, some being the controversy surrounding his academic qualifications, his claim of being a certified public accountant, and THE discrepancy in his age records.
According to investigations by reporters of a United States-based online medium, Sharpedgenews.com, Tinubu’s invite was a generic kind sent out to donors by the campaign organisation.
The medium, which is attending the convention, also revealed that the DNC denied ever inviting Tinubu on any official capacity as the “leader of opposition” in Nigeria.
His media aide Sunday Dare had said: “Tinubu will be at the ring side as the Democratic Party conducts activities that will culminate in the nomination of President Barrack Obama as its candidate for the November 2012 presidential elections in the USA.
“Tinubu receives a gold card invitation, which is prime; and with this, he will be joined by three other eminent personalities: Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State; speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji; and a former commissioner for information and strategy in Lagos State, Mr Dele Alake.”
A DNC source, irked by the news reports, explained that the invite that was given to Tinubu was a generic type that similarly went to whoever donated more than $5,000 to the Obama campaign.
“The invitation card sent to Tinubu, the former senator from Nigeria, was generic; and it generally goes from the campaign organisation and not personally from President Obama,” the highly placed source explained while speaking anonymously.
The source said that it would be difficult for anyone to implicate Obama in attempts to foist a preferred leadership on Nigeria or Africa, as that would negate the philosophy of Washington’s new international engagement.
“Nigerians are capable of determining its destiny; politicians are free to strategise but it is immoral to deceive anyone that we are who we are not,” he said. “This gentleman is not like your popular national icon, businessman Moshood Abiola, who was well-grounded and at home with many people in government and private sector.”
He added that Americans would not want to be dragged into the affairs of any country through personal preferences, reiterating that Tinubu “did what he had to do in order to gain access to the convention ground.”
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