…You’re making excuses for imminent defeat, Atiku tells Tinubu
…Statement didn’t target Buhari, PDP conniving with system to inflict pains on Nigerians –APC PCC
KUNLE OLUTAYO
Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and the All Progressives Congress (APC), Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), have gone for each others’ jugular over a recent allegation by Atiku’s counterpart in the election, Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, over alleged clandestine moves to mar the poll.
Ashiwaju Tinubu, during a rally in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, had claimed that the fuel scarcity and Naira shortage being experienced by Nigerians currently, were designed to frustrate his chances of becoming president.
“They don’t want this election to hold. They want to sabotage it (elections). Will you allow them?” Tinubu had asked the teeming supporters at the rally, to which they responded: “No.”
“Even if they say there is no fuel, we will trek to vote. They have a lot of mischief; they could say there is no fuel. They have been scheming to create fuel crisis, but forget about it. Let them increase the price of fuel, only them know where they have hoarded fuel. They hoarded money; they hoarded Naira; we will go and vote and we will win.
“Even if they change the ink on Naira notes; whatever their plans, it will come to naught. We are going to win. Those in the PDP will lose (won ma lule),” the former Lagos governor had said.
But reacting in a statement through his Special Assistant, Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Thursday, Atiku said: “Obviously frustrated by his inability to stop the cashless policy and currency redesign of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), that will curb vote buying and enhance the credibility of next month’s election, the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, has begun crying over his imminent defeat.
”Tinubu, while addressing a crowd in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said the currency redesign was targeted at him. Well, the Holy Bible says in Proverbs 28: 1 that ‘the wicked run when no one is chasing them, but an honest person is as brave as a lion.’
“Even though the CBN policy affects all 18 political parties, Tinubu is the only one frustrated. Also frustrated by President Muhammadu Buhari’s unwillingness to attend some of his insipid rallies, Tinubu launched an attack against the president who doubles as the minister of petroleum.
“It is funny that Tinubu is just commenting over the fuel scarcity which started in different parts of the country as far back as February 2022. In Lagos, where Tinubu claims to be the landlord, the state has been witnessing fuel queues since last November.
“It is, therefore, dubious of Tinubu to try to extricate himself from the failures of his party, because elections are 30 days away. Having seen his imminent defeat at the polls, he is already using the fuel scarcity and naira redesign as excuses. Tinubu should throw in the towel or get ready to be disgraced on February 25, 2023. A word is enough for the wise.”
However, The APC PCC replied almost immediately, urging Nigerians to disregard “the recent statement issued by the PDP in reaction to the comments made by the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, on lingering fuel scarcity and monetary policy of the CBN.
While reacting through a statement by its Director, Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, the APC PCC said the PDP only misinterpreted Tinubu’s words for mere political gain.
“Nigerians should no longer be in doubt about those working in cahoots with fifth columnists in the system to inflict avoidable pains on our hapless people for political end. No sooner than Asiwaju Tinubu empathised with the Nigerian people facing the dual crises of fuel and new naira notes scarcity than the opposition PDP and the Atiku camp issued a knee-jerk response, derailing from the issues, distorting Asiwaju’s statement and trying, in vain, to create a wedge between our presidential candidate and President Muhammadu Buhari.
“When the guilty are afraid of being uncovered, they try to push back with red-herring. For the records, Asiwaju Tinubu, during APC campaign rally in Abeokuta on Wednesday, in his statement, did not mention, blame or accuse President Muhammadu Buhari for the current challenges in the country.
“Asiwaju Tinubu was only adverting government’s attention to the sabotage being carried out by some fifth columnists in the system, possibly working in cahoots with the PDP. The CBN officials, including Governor Godwin Emefiele, have said many times that enough new naira notes have been supplied to the banks, yet, our people complain that they have not been able to get the new notes.
“In recent days, many automatic teller machines (ATMs) are either not working or when working, they are dispensing the old notes, just a few days to the January 31 deadline.
“Similarly, Asiwaju Tinubu is aware of the salutary efforts by President Buhari to end the fuel queues by chairing a 14-man panel. Yet, the queues and agony continue. For a presidential candidate who cares about the suffering of our people, he has a duty to warn government that its efforts to make life better for Nigerians are being sabotaged on several fronts.
“Our presidential candidate only re-echoed what is well known and acknowledged even by President Buhari himself at different fora: That there are fifth columnists in and outside of government who often throw spanners in the works against good intentions and programmes of the government.
“How does an advisory genuinely made by Asiwaju Tinubu to protect and create goodwill for the government of his party become an attack? It can only be so in the jaundiced view of the PDP. It is in this light we found amusing the directionless Atiku Campaign’s bagful of mischief in their hurriedly put together press statement meant to gain shameful mileage from the suffering of Nigerians.
“PDP and Atiku should remember not to get high on their own smoke. No political blackmail and an attempt to create a conflict between Tinubu and his long-term ally, President Muhammadu Buhari, can succeed. We have bad news for Atiku and his handlers: Their latest mischief is, therefore, doomed to fail.
“The Atiku rudderless campaign, always seeking cheap shots and easy ways, has again woefully attempted to make a mountain out of a molehill from the comments made by Asiwaju Tinubu in Abeokuta.
“As a patriotic and compassionate leader, Asiwaju Tinubu will not stomach seeing ordinary Nigerians being made to face excessive difficulties over mundane issues, due to activities of petrol and currency hoarders. As a proud leader of the APC, Asiwaju Tinubu would not also look indifferent as his party and the government get dirtied with black brush at a critical time like this, whether he is a candidate or not.
“Atiku camp’s hasty move to mine political capital out of the clearly difficult situation betrays his campaign’s possible connivance, due to its desperation. As Asiwaju said in Abeokuta, these orchestrated hardships will not stop his impending victory come 25 February.
“Nigerians shall surely vote for a party that is working to solve all the problems and mess created by the PDP for which their presidential candidate was an integral part in the, largely, 16 unproductive years they spent in government.
“Atiku and his team can continue their indulgence in fake news and twisted narratives; they cannot change the minds of majority of Nigerians who have long rejected the PDP and Atiku, after their 16 wasted years in power,” the statement added.
