By; IBRAHIM ADAMU, Kaduna
Bauchi State Commissioner, Dr. Aliyu Tilde came under fire from followers and supporters for supporting Presidential Candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima.
Tilde, a Commissioner for Education under the administration of Bala Muhammad, a People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) Governor, Saturday had on his Facebook page with thousands of followers a post clearly expressing support for candidature of Tinubu.
Shortly after, the post was made, Tilde came under barrage of outrage and criticism from supporters, calling for his resignation as a member of cabinet under PDP.
A Facebook follower of the former university lecturer, Usman Musa expressed disappointment over what he described as a two-faced persona of a political appointee who should have resigned before pitching a tent with a different party.
“Dr. I have been your staunch supporter because of your in-depth understanding and rich analysis of contemporary issues concerning our politics but, today I must say I am disappointed by your position of expressing support for Tinubu and Shettima.
“We expected you to support Presidential Candidate of the party under which you’re presently serving as a commissioner.
“The honourable thing you should have done in this circumstance was to resign your current position before taking a side with the APC,” Musa said.
Alkali Ali, another follower of the academia turned politician was harsher in his criticism, accusing Tilde of being influenced by financial gratification.
“It is now clear that our respectable Dr. has been compromised by monetary advantage and what he stands to gain from Tinubu presidency if it materializes.
“I thought he was principle-driven considering his hard stand against the administration of APC at the federal level, calling it a failure in several of his public articles.
“The Dr. should be able to tell us why he’s supporting Tinubu and what Nigeria, particularly the north will gain from voting yet another APC adminstration despite the obvious failure of the party to solve our problems,”he queried.
Another facebook user Danladi Yusuf reminded Tilde of an earlier post he made in the heat of party primary elections, wishing Atiku victory, saying it was ungentlemanly of an elder in the caliber of an academia to switch sides in quick succession, expressing support for two opposing candidates in a contest.
“I wonder why Tilde is now expressing support for the candidature of Tinubu after supporting Atiku in the past.
“I see this as contradictory and unprincipled which shouldn’t be the portion of a man we all look up to as a role model in leadership,” he stated.
Tilde, in yet another post 17 hours after the earlier one that drew criticism from his supporters, admitted voicing support for Atiku as a PDP’s presidential aspirant, but with a caveat, saying his initial position was only for primary not general election.
He urged those criticizing him to seek knowledge and become politically enlightened so they would make an informed decision ahead 2023 election.
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