The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has written lampoons on the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on what PDP terms as his fixation on the PDP despite the obvious inadequacies and failure of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration.
The main opposition party noted that Nigerians are appalled by yet another attempt by Tinubu, to divert attention from the main issues of the failures of the APC government by making derogatory remarks about the PDP.
The National Publicity Secretary PDP, Debo Ologunagba, said this in a statement, in Abuja, yesterday, in reaction to Tinubu’s comment that he is surprised the PDP still exists as a political party.
Tinubu, speaking while unveiling the logo of the Tinubu/Shettima 2023 logo in Abuja on Saturday, said: “I wonder why the PDP still exists as a party, where it could not see rail infrastructure that can do haulage, human and animal husbandry, food carriage from the length and breadth of the country, whereas I have been using the railway to go to the North to Kano from Lagos when we are on holidays. They got there and turned it to incubator of chicken.”
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In response to the former Lagos State governor, Ologunagba said: “Such fixation on the PDP only exposes Tinubu as a paper candidate who is confused, nervy and intimidated by the PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and the achievements of the party, which stared him in the face in mortal fear of failure ahead of the 2023 general elections.
“Unlike the APC that is dead, the PDP is not only alive and existing as acknowledged by Tinubu in his statement, but also strong, united, and focused on its mission to Rescue, Rebuild and Redirect our nation from the misrule of APC.
“It is distressing that the APC candidate speaks like someone under some influence, with incoherent discourse and absence of mind that further expose a lack of capacity for leadership, especially at the Presidential level.”
The PDP spokesperson further said it was rather shameful that the APC presidential candidate alluded to the nation’s railway system, which was revitalised by the PDP administration, but painfully surrendered to terrorists and bandits by the APC government.
While mocking Tinubu over the various scandals around his age and academic credentials, Ologunagba said: “From his incoherent discourse, the APC presidential candidate appears to be battling with issues of ethical challenges and ineligibility to contest election on account of inconsistencies in his educational qualifications, name, ancestry, age, corruption allegations among myriads of issues.”
He further stated that Nigerians have realised the futility of Asiwaju’s non-existent and heavily concocted achievements, influence, leadership prowess and skills.
According to him, Nigerians gave Tinubu the benefit of the doubt but he failed them by engineering a deceitful government leading to the ugly indices of insecurity and bloodletting, economic hardship, unemployment, disunity, and low life expectancy imposed on the nation in the last seven years.
“Nigerians have recognised PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku, as the solution our nation needs at this moment while Asiwaju has been identified as ‘Another Problem Coming’ (APC),” he said.
Meanwhile, governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, has advised PDP members not to get involved in the ongoing tussle between the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku, the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike and the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu.
Recall that following the party’s presidential primary, Wike and Atiku have been at loggerheads due to the outcome of the primary and selection of Atiku’s running mate. Wike’s camp had called for the resignation of Ayu as a condition for reconciliation between the duo.
However, the Bauchi State governor told party members in his state yesterday that the current controversy at the national level is above them.
Mohammed said: “I don’t want any of us to get involved in the controversy at the national level. It is above us.
“Leave it to me to handle it as your leader the way I am handling it as your leader. Certainly, we cannot afford it because it will have disparaging consequences on us.
“Whatever we become we must remember the party is supreme. We have problems but it’s about swallowing our interest for the greater benefits of the bigger picture,” he said.
A founding member of the ruling APC and Director General, Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, has asked the PDP to find ways of extricating itself from the existential realities facing it, rather than seeking to accuse APC of instigating crisis in the erstwhile ruling party. Specifically, he said APC has no hand in the altercation between Ayu and Wike.
Okechukwu, in a chat yesterday in Abuja, noted that as Nigerians continue to reflect on the polity barely 24 days to the kick-off political campaigns for the 2023 general elections, “the PDP has boxed itself into irretrievable tight corner.”
He regretted that instead of sitting down to address the various challenges confronting their party, PDP leaders are busy passing the buck and blaming the APC.
Okechukwu lambasted Ayu for accusing APC of sponsoring mischievous posts against him. He dismissed insinuations that APC is fuelling the PDP crisis and urged Ayu to avoid buck-passing and blame game, stressing that doing so amounts to transfer of misplaced aggression.
