Atiku Abubakar, the former vice president and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has attacked the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to draw attention to their flaws and staff of their affairs.
In a statement released on Friday, Bayo Onanuga, the director of media and publicity for Tinubu’s presidential campaign council, made fun of Atiku and the PDP for Nyesom Wike’s candid media interview.
APC said “Once again, another bid for the presidency of our country by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar is slipping away. This is unraveling before our very eyes even before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) blows the whistle for electioneering campaign. His party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is in disarray. The signs are just too ominous for the Waziri Adamawa with the report by the Economic Intelligence Unit predicting another trashing for him in the forthcoming polls.
“After violating his party’s code for power rotation between the north and south and grabbing the PDP ticket without a modicum of sensibilities about our national ethos, Alhaji Atiku is now faced with the karma of his inordinate ambition”.
Through his media adviser, Paul Ibe, Atiku responded on Friday, calling Tinubu and the APC busybodies.
The former vice president referred to the APC’s position on events within the PDP as the ludicrous work of an outsider.
He claimed that the APC is interfering in the internal matters of the PDP rather than concentrating on its concerns with acceptance and credibility.
The statement read in part, “Well, since the APC Presidential Campaign Organization seems to have woken up from their state of hibernation, it is good to remind them that there are pending questions about the social and educational history of their candidate that Nigerians want answers to.
“We shall be kind enough to remind the APC that when, in the next few days, campaigns begin in earnest, Nigerians will require answers to some weighty character questions about their candidate and, rather than expend precious time on what is never their business, should use the remaining few days judiciously.
“Secondly, whatever is happening in the PDP is a conversation among leaders of the party and that, in itself, is a reflection of the PDP, as a living and engaging political party. The conversation in the PDP is all about consensus building, which in itself is a major ingredient for peace and unity.
“The PDP, as a truly democratic party, understands that democracy is a lively concept because it allows for people to express their opinions and, it is within that understanding that everyone becomes part of the process.
“The same, of course, cannot be said of the APC where what exists is at best graveyard peace. It is on record that in the seven years and more that the APC has been in power and with the attendant hardship that the party has foisted on the ordinary people of Nigeria, the candidate of the APC, former governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu had not for one single time stood on the side of the people.
“And, that is so for the obvious reason that the presidential candidate of the APC considers his poorly conceived presidential ambition more important than the adversity that his party has unleashed on a vast majority of Nigerians. We wish to remind the APC that its presidential candidate has to own the failures of the party in the last seven plus years. He should also know that Nigerians will not reward their failure with nothing less than a resounding loss in the election.
“Tinubu and the APC ma lu’le! It is important to let Tinubu and his paid agents know that what obtains in the PDP is not the mundane stoicism that the APC is known for.
“Indeed, the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar has established credibility before the masses of this country that he is one patriot who can be counted on to stand by the side of the people – even when the times are hard”.
