Tinubu at Chatham House, UK: Protest by Nigerians, placards shock him

Some Nigerians living in UK on Monday staged a protest at Chatham House, venue of the lecture by APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

The Nigerians, who were peeved by Tinubu’s repudiation of Nigerian media invitations to feature at debates and independent townhall engagements as a build up to the 2023 polls, had massed at the venue of the lecture to protest.

Tinubu had left Nigeria on Saturday for a tour of some Western nations with the Chatham House lecture as one of his itineraries.

The protest which commenced hours before the 1.00 pm. scheduled time for the lecture had witnessed some Nigerian and foreign demonstrators.

They moved around unhindered.

Hours before the demonstrations, supporters of Tinubu, however, issued warnings that those coming to protest would face deportation as local police had been forewarned to guard the Chatham House venue with snide remarks that illegals would face the consequences.

The aggrieved protesters chanted and raised placards that read, ‘`Bobo Chicago’, a reference to Tinubu’s links to a drug trafficking ring in the US, as well as his controversial academic history in the University of Chicago.

One of the placards reads: “Bobo Chicago, go and seek your herdin [sic] and leave us alone.”

Meanwhile, former presidential aide, Reno Omokri had posted a tweet, @renoomokri:“Tinubu will never forget the protest we just pulled off at Chatham House. He was disgraced and could not get out of his car. He had to run away.

“#Tinubu out of LondonProtest against drug Lord Tinubu at Chathmaan House was a resounding success! We shook the drug lord Asiwaju.’’

Later as the lecture got underway, Tinubu has come under attack over his outing at the Chatham House, for deferring questions thrown at him to his aides, a development that sparked reactions from several quarters.

The former Lagos State governor told his audience in far away UK not in Nigeria thagt his family background, and academic and career records are “consistent and verifiable’’.

Persecondnews reports that Tinubu was accompanied by the House of Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, Jigawa and Kaduna States Governors — Abubakar Badaru, Nasir El-Rufai — and the former Ekiti Gov. Kayode Fayemi.

Tinubu said:“The time of my birth is dated March 29, 1952 and I hail from “The Tinubu, the proper Tinubu” of Lagos.

‘I have had a very good exposure in life, my record is consistent in the school, in the university, they (critics) are now convinced that they wasted their money and their time. The record is there, the transcript is there showing March 1952.

“I’m not claiming another father, I am Tinubu and Tinubu proper. If they want a DNA, they could as well request from us. One of them has even been accused of not being a Nigerian citizen, I didn’t touch that area.

“Equally, it remains the same, Deloitte, Chicago State University where I graduated from has attested to that. Now, I can announce that I have received my original replacement degree certificate from them.’’

According to Tinubu, none of his contenders for the office of president can match his professional records, which he described as “outstanding”.
“Deloitte trained me as an accountant. Mobil Oil has attested to my record, outstanding record, I got to the pinnacle of my career in the private sector. Who among them can brag about that?”
On the 2023 poll, Tinubu was confident that he would coast home to victory in spite of strong opposition from former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Peter Obi of the Labour Party among others.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign, Mr Daniel Bwala, and other Nigerians have criticized Tinubu for seeking the help of his party members and cohorts in answering questions posed to him at the occasion.

He said: “@BwalaDaniel Chatham house show of shame. You want to be the president but avoiding answering questions, instead you are re-directing the answers to El-Rufai, Alake and co. Nigerians want to be governed by a person not a robot who cannot exercise independent thought in answering questions

@SavvyRinu He can speak at Chatham House but he can’t speak at the media houses in the country? This is Buhari’s template. Nigerians, over to you.

@PrinceWaleBlaze What did I just see??? Tinubu was asked some questions in Chatham House, and he couldn’t answer. He said “teamship”, and passed on the questions to El Rufia, Ben Ayade and others. We are done for!!!
God will punish all of you campaigning for this dunce!!!

@michael_daini I feel ashamed about this interview at Chatham House. I think they shouldn’t have let people ask questions to do a full cover-up. Delegating questions they are asking a wannabe-president to your guys is one kind. I feel ashamed!! I used to trust Tinubu. No more!!

@TSA_Connecticu What am I really seeing at Chatham House? A Presidential candidate is being asked questions & he decided to assign other members of his party to answer them?
My brothers & sisters, I fully declare war on @OFFICIALBAT
bids to be Nigeria’s President.We can’t allow this to happen!
@UsmanMustapha_M So, Tinubu went to CHATHAM House with soldiers to battle for him. He actually assigned these grown men to answer some of the questions he was asked to explain. We are in problem if this man becomes our President.

@d_kenzo_ Watching a so called presidential candidate redirecting questions meant for him for people to answer in Chatham house is very embarrassing & alarming !!
Tinubu supporters, I will drag you today!! I mean look the creature you are supporting #ChathamHouse

@OlawaleSZNN The fact that Tinubu cannot answer questions thrown directly at him at the Chatham House today just shows that he’s not ready to serve Nigerian. He wants to be president through proxies. It’s not going to happen.

@OkeStalyf LMAO. Instead of Tinubu to answer questions posited at him in his Chatham House chat, he is shamelessly asking his aides to respond

@UnlimitedEniola They still went to Chatham House with paid praise singers and he still can’t prove why he deserves to be president. Bola Tinubu shifting responsibility again. Wale Edun will answer. APC Women leader will answer.
@elonchorch Tinubu actually went to Chatham House and appointed people to answer questions for him. Obviously, the man has nothing upstairs.

@Shehusky I beg who’s watching Tinubu’s speech in Chatham house? Someone said he read from a script and when it was time to answer questions his proxies took over. Is this true? #PeterObi4President2023

@dubem10 Shame! Shame!! Shame!!! Tinubu went to Chatham House to read a script. Three questions were asked and he assigned the three questions to three different people to answer. Tinubu couldn’t answer any.

@ClementAtakpo Bola Tinubu has refused to answer questions at Chatham House. He instead has assigned three members of his team to answer the questions directed at him, including @elrufai. Nigerians can you see the red flags? Please remind me again, who is running for President???

@Riddwane Reno Omokri stormed Chatham House with an agenda. But his agenda was swept away by a superior agenda. He joined the band of Tinubu supporters to shout: “BAT for President”.

@odogwu_obi Tinubu will be the worse president ever.. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. He brought people to be answering questions for him in Chatham house. Questions are directed at Tinubu and he is hand picking members of his team to answer the questions for him.

@Ucheanyanw If after this Chatham house disgrace by
@officialABAT and you still support him, you need your head examined.

@VictorIsrael_ Tinubu spoke at the Chatham house with scripted questions and Agbado boys think they’ve done the unthinkable. They want to compare Bulaba with Peter Obi. PO that held lecture in Cambridge and Oxford university. E be like say Professor never ask you questions before PO is clear.’’