By Ben Ogbemudia
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday mocked the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The opposition party said the APC has since served out its purpose as it brought in the failed and rudderless administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
The upbraiding of the nation’s ruling party comes in the wake of the hosting of a consultation meeting with PDP governors over the choice of running mate by the opposition party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said it also “sympathises with Asiwaju for embarking on a journey to nowhere as he is no match for PDP’s more popular, more competent and more prepared presidential candidate, His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, the unifier and the people’s choice, who defeated President Buhari fair and square in the 2019 presidential election”.
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In harsh words, the PDP berated Tinubu, saying he would “soon realise that Nigeria is not one of his acquired estates or fiefdoms and that the Nigerian people are not his political string-puppets and retinue of lackeys, from whom he bought the APC presidential ticket”.
The statement read in part, “Asiwaju will also soon realise that Nigerians hold him responsible for his confessed role in installing the failed Buhari-led administration that subjugated the people, brought excruciating economic hardship, acute poverty, bloodletting, terrorism, mass killings, promoted disunity, tribalism and nepotism, lawlessness, massive treasury looting and unpardonable life-discounting experiences to our country.
“It is indeed reprehensible that Asiwaju, after being handed an APC flag that refused to unfold in recognition of the gloomy times of the APC, did not demonstrate any form of remorse for the injuries he engineered and caused our nation in the last seven years.
“His failure to express empathy for the victims of violence, kidnapping, mass killings, and acts of terrorism, especially the recent gruesome attack in a sacred place of worship, St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo in Ondo State, serves as a foretaste of the big cover-up and harrowing experience that Nigerians will face, God forbid, should Asiwaju emerge as President in 2023.”
According to the opposition party, “His acceptance speech further exposed his manifest lack of capacity, presence of mind, resourcefulness, and selflessness to manage the affairs of a nation as complex as Nigeria.”
It added, “From Asiwaju’s egotistic outbursts before and after the APC manipulative national convention, it is crystal clear that his life-long dream of clinching the APC presidential ticket is not for the well-being of Nigerians, but out of desperation to lay hands on the keys to the nation’s treasury.
“Tinubu has insulted the sensibilities of Nigerians enough and this APC national convention will be his final political outing. This is because Nigerians have had enough, and are now, more than ever before, ready and out on the platform of the PDP to defend our nation and reject Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.”
The PDP argued that “Nigerian politics is far more complex and beyond the Lagos politics where Asiwaju operates with brawl and deployment of violence, rather than brain.
“What Nigerians need now is a unifier in the face of the pain and discomfort inflicted on them by Bola Ahmed Tinubu; his live band of APC looters, and mean human beings. He needs to know that Nigeria is not Lagos!”
The PDP said it was, therefore, charging Nigerians to continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, its choice president “in this mission to Rescue, Redirect and Rebuild our nation from the misrule of Asiwaju and his APC.”
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*Party govs meet with presidential candidate to strategise
Sokoto State governor and ex-presidential aspirant, Aminu Tambuwal, yesterday disclosed that PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has held a consultative meeting with PDP governors over who will be his running mate.
He said the meeting was held behind closed doors for almost two hours at the PDP Legacy House in Maitama, Abuja.
Speaking with journalists shortly after the meeting, Tambuwal, who is also the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, said the meeting they held with Atiku was “a conservative meeting on the way forward in arriving on who will be his running mate”.
The Sokoto governor said, “Yes, it is a consultative meeting on the way forward in arriving on the person that will be running mate to our presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
“it is a continuous thing. He will meet with the party’s Board of Trustees on Monday for deliberations on the same matter.”
He added that the meeting was a forum for the governors elected on the platform of the party to strategise on how to secure victory for the PDP in the 2023 general elections.
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Summarising the goal of the meeting, Tambuwal said, “On behalf of my colleagues, the governors, let me commend the leadership of the party and members of our party for a very successful national convention.
“The national chairman, along with the candidate, came to thank the governors for their roles at the convention.
“We talked about cooperation and collaboration in prosecuting a very successful electioneering campaign that will result in victories for the PDP at various elections from the state house of assembly, national election, governorship, and the presidential election come February 2023.
According to him, the running mate issue is the most crucial activity that is hanging to seal all preparations for the presidential election come 2023.
At the meeting were the PDP national chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu; governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa-Ibom), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) and Seyi Makinde (Oyo).
