A former Managing Director of the Nigerian News Agency has renewed his support for All Progressives Congress presidential candidate Bola Tinubu, refuting reports that he had shifted sides ahead of the 2023 election.
Onanuga was replying to a report that suggested he, along with others who had previously worked with former Lagos State governor Akinwunmi Ambode, may have aligned themselves with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who announced his ambition to run for president under the APC.
According to the experienced journalist, he had known Tinubu for a long time, had participated in his governorship campaign in 1998, and had spent eight years close to his administration.
He claimed that the story was based on the APC presidential primary, which he claimed was founded on a false premise.
Onanuga wrote, “I am fully in support of Bola Tinubu. I am not in PYO’s camp and will not be in his camp if Tinubu is running.
“People who know me will attest to the fact that I am ever loyal to my friends, loyal to a political cause. I have been on the political left since 1978 when I joined Awolowo’s UPN as a UNILAG student.
“I am not a renegade. And I can vouch for Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi and Dele Alake as well.
“The author of the rumour was merely writing conjectures on an issue that is unpredictable, a party’s primary election, where an outsider will only labour in vain in making permutations.
“As far as I am concerned, and let me say it loud and clear, I am in support of Bola Tinubu’s ambition. I am not against him. He is my first choice, the second choice and the third choice for the exalted seat.
“I have known him since 1992. I was part of his governorship campaign in 1998 before others were invited to his government after we won the election in January 1999.
“I was close to his government for eight years and I bore witness to the innovations he brought into governance, the overhauling of the system that he carried out, some of which other states and the Federal Government had copied.
“I have no iota of doubt that he will replicate the same at the centre, and even do more, if given the opportunity.”
