#NaijaTeamObama? Tinubu, Fayemi to attend US Democratic Party convention

by Stanley Azuakola

The US presidential election season is heating up. The Republican party held its convention last week in Tampa, Florida where the position of Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee for the November election was officially ratified.

This week (starting from today), it will be the turn of the Democratic Party and President Barack Obama in Charlotte, North Carolina. And guess who is attending from Nigeria?

It’s none other than the national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The news was first reported by The Nation, and here’s how the Tinubu owned newspaper carried it:

Tinubu, who was invited to the convention by the party in recognition of his political activities as leader of opposition in Nigeria, will be at the ring side to watch the nomination of President Barrack Obama as the party’s presidential candidate for the November election.

A statement by special adviser on media to the former Lagos state governor, Mr Sunday Dare, reads: “Tinubu receives a gold card invitation which is prime and with this, he will be joined by three other eminent personalities – Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state, speaker Lagos state House of Assembly Adeyemi Ikuforiji and former commissioner for information and strategy in Lagos state, Mr Dele Alake.

“On Thursday, at Bank of America stadium, President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will deliver their nomination acceptance speeches.

Four years ago when President Obama was inaugurated, Tinubu also enjoyed a ring side seat at the event in Washington.

Tinubu’s invitation to attend the convention comes after a successful one week lecture tour, town hall meeting and book launch in Washington and Chicago.

He delivered a lecture at the prestigious Wilson Center for International scholars on the challenges facing Nigeria’s democratic experiment and offered solutions to problems of under development facing the country.

Similarly at a town hall meeting in Chicago with Governors Rauf Aregbesola  and Abiola Ajimobi on hand, Tinubu spoke extensively on Nigeria’s search for true federalism and highlighted the fault lines in the country’s practice of federalism.

At the convention, Tinubu  is expected to discuss how to entrench true  federalism in Nigeria in his private discussions with the leading figures of the Obama administration and seek the US support for Nigeria to hold a free and fair election in 2015.

 

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