Sunday Aborisade in Abuja
Members of the South West Agenda for Asiwaju (SWAGA), which championed the President Bola Tinubu’s 2023 presidential aspiration, have raised the alarm that they have been dumped after Tinubu’s election victory.
THISDAY checks revealed that key leaders and members of the group have been missing from the President Tinubu’s cabinet and other key appointments made so far despite their roles in spearheading the campaign, not only in the South West but also in many states across the federation.
A leader of the group from Kwara State, who spoke with a few journalists when accosted in Abuja on Thursday, expressed surprise at the President’s actions.
The Kwara SWAGA Chief, who craved anonymity, declared with regret and lamentation that Tinubu appeared to be behaving like ex President Muhammadu Buhari who ditched those who worked for his election in 2015 and his re-election in 2019.
The politician said President Tinubu “is serving SWAGA ’23 the same bitter potion that Buhari served those who made it possible for him to win his elections in 2015 and 2019.”
He said, “Tinubu, who fought tooth and nail to ensure Buhari’s electoral victory twice, became a victim of such unfair treatment as Buhari turned his back on him shortly after he was elected president.
“If the saying that ‘he who feels it knows it,’ is anything to go by, then Tinubu ought to feel the pain of his campaigners the same way he felt it when Buhari sidelined him throughout his eight-year tenure”
The SWAGA Chief who said he was speaking the minds of other members recalled that “SWAGA ’23 members stuck out their necks for Tinubu in 2020 even during the COVID-19 crisis, crisscrosing different parts of the country despite the risk of infection.”
He said, “At the time the group was selling Tinubu’s candidacy, we were mocked, even by some associates of the President who called us unflattering names for marketing what they considered to be “unsellable product”.
The Kwara-born SWAGA leader said, “Interestingly, some of those who mocked us at the time, were among the first set of people President Tinubu gave choice appointments in his cabinet while our members are being left in the lurch.
“Many of our leaders in SWAGA are accomplished Nigerians by all standards. Among them are former Ministers and former National Assembly members. But none of them has been considered for a place in the Tinubu administration.”
He noted with concern that sidelining campaign groups after election victory could discourage future participation as the experience can be quite discouraging.
The Kwara SWAGA chieftain, nevertheless, said the group will continue to support Tinubu and his administration despite the fact that the President had not met their expectations.
“Yes, our members feel embarrassed when people, out of genuine concern, or outright mockery, ask us what we have to show for our support for Tinubu. But we are not discouraged and our support for the President remains unshaken”, he said.
Efforts to get the reaction of the National Coordinator of SWAGA, who is a former Senate spokesperson, Senator Adedayo Adeyeye, for his reaction on the matter, proved abortive on Thursday.
Calls put across to his mobile phone did not connect and he had yet to reply the SMS and WhatsApp messages sent to him as of the time of filing this report.
