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Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) says he is a marketable individual and won’t allow anyone to use him to make money.
Tinubu said this while speaking at Chatham House in the United Kingdom where he spoke on the topic: “Nigeria’s 2023 elections: Security & economic development and its foreign policy imperatives” on Monday, December 5, 2022.
Responding to a question on why he’s not been having one-on-one conversations with Nigerians like his counterparts, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Tinubu said he rejected invitations to attend townhall meetings and debates because the organisers want to use him to make money.
He said, “I see myself as a marketable individual, they want to use me to make money and I am saying no.”
This is believed to be a response to Arise TV’s persistent invitation to Tinubu to join its townhall meeting to tell Nigerians about his plan for the country ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
It would be recalled that Arise TV's invitation to Tinubu to join its townhall meeting recently sparked a controversy between the TV station and the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC).
The council in a statement expressed surprise that the TV station listed Tinubu as a participant without prior consultation with him.
The council also condemned Arise Television for using Tinubu's name in the promotional materials for the townhall meeting without securing his prior consent.