Former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, has revealed that President Bola Tinubu made several efforts to convince him to defect to the All Progressives Congress.
Metuh told journalists in Abuja that Tinubu not only approached him personally on different occasions but also sent his then-ally and later Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, who was at the time Speaker of the House of Representatives to persuade him to join the ruling party.
He said: “In the middle of my problem, he sent the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, to come and see me. He reached out to me; he comforted me.
“It took me a long time to get involved in politics. I’ve been called several times. The president wanted to work with me. Even in 2015, when we lost the election, I didn’t bother. He reached out to me again.
“When I left politics in 2022, he called me to come into his party. I refused. After he won the election, I went to see him. He called me to enter the party that he needed me. I refused because I stopped politics.”
Metuh’s comments come years after he was embroiled in the controversial Dasukigate scandal involving the alleged diversion of funds meant to combat Boko Haram.
He was convicted over the N400 million he was accused of receiving from the Office of the National Security Adviser under Sambo Dasuki, after failing to justify that the funds were for the prosecution of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign.
The former PDP spokesman maintained that despite the president’s invitations, he declined because he had withdrawn from partisan politics since 2022.