Stop misrepresenting President on Yahaya Bello, APC chieftain warns

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and strong supporter of President Bola Tinubu, Jesutega Onokpasa, has criticised presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, for allegedly giving the wrong impression to the public about the involvement or not of the President in the ongoing matter between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.

Onokpasa, a lawyer and Chairman, Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG), in a statement yesterday, said he could not imagine why Onanuga was so “obsessed with Yahaya Bello that instead of leaving his matter for the courts to decide, he keeps tactlessly intervening thereon with the impression that our President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is actually the one behind former Governor Bello’s travails.”

He continued: “Contrary to the rather perplexing insinuations of Onanuga, former Governor Yahaya Bello is most certainly not hiding under ‘the agbada’ of anybody, but is firmly under the protection of the law, being a litigant in a pending case in court.”

Onokpasa claimed: “I just read a report which credits my dear brother and presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, with stating in an interview with Laolu Akande that the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, is hiding ‘under the agbada’ of his successor, Governor Usman Ododo.”

“From the report, it appears Akande had asked Onanuga why the police cannot assist the EFCC to effect Yahaya Bello’s arrest, which then elicited Onanuga’s quite ridiculous reply.

“Both Onanuga and Akande are seasoned and quite accomplished journalists, but apparently neither is a lawyer, hence the advertisement of their crass ignorance of the law and the judicial process.”