Obama’s party convention: Controversy trails Tinubu’s invitation •Former gov allegedly paid $5,000 for gold card •A big integrity question has arisen -Odumakin •It’s a smear campaign -Tinubu’s associate.

 

A statement attributed to Tinubu’s media aide, Mr. Sunday Dare, earlier in the week, had indicated that Tinubu was invited to the Democratic National Convention in the United States of America, where President Barack Obama got his second term ticket on Thursday.

“Tinubu will be at the ring side as the Democratic Party conducts activities that will culminate in the nomination of President Barack Obama as its candidate for the November 2012 presidential elections in the USA.

“Tinubu received 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 of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji; and a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State, Mr Dele Alake.”

The statement claimed that Tinubu was invited as the leader of opposition in Nigeria.

But Sharpedge news, an online publication said on Saturday that the claims were false and that Tinubu obtained the invitation card after paying the sum of $5,000.

Quoting a DNC source, Sharpedge news, explained that the invite that was given to Tinubu was a generic type that similarly went to whoever donated more than $5,000 to the Obama campaign.

The publication said that the invitation did not come directly from US President, Barack Obama.

According to the publication, Obama did not personally extend “a gold card invitation” to Tinubu to attend the Democratic Party convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the US.

“The invitation card sent to Tinubu, the former senator from Nigeria, was generic; and it generally goes from the campaign organisation and not personally from President Obama,” the highly placed source explained to the online agency.

Much ado about nothing.