The Special Assistant, Public Communication to Atiku Abubakar, Phrank Shaibu, has claimed that the insecurity rocking Nigeria and the country’s bad economy will jeopardize the chances of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Asiwaju Tinubu, from emerging victorious in next year’s election.

Reacting to a statement titled: ‘A warning to Nigerians’, by the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Campaign Spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, Shaibu urged the APC to focus more on selling its candidate instead of attacking the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.

He called on Nigerians to massively reject the APC in the 2023 general election, accusing the ruling party of plunging many Nigerians into hardship.

He said, “our reaction to the APC is that currently, their party has pushed Nigeria deeper into the abyss of poverty, insecurity, indebtedness. It will be good to challenge the APC to acknowledge one aspect of Nigeria’s national life where they have not reversed the fortunes of the country compared to what was handed to them in 2015.

“It is for this reason that Nigerians have roundly rejected the ruling party and what the likes of Bayo Onanuga will want to achieve is to fabricate old tales, such that will take attention away from the hardship that the APC has launched on a large percentage of Nigerians.”

On Onanuga, Atiku’s aide accused the Tinubu campaign spokesperson of going over the top when he described his principal as “a man who is not prepared for the job he is applying for and a man who cannot be entrusted with our commonwealth.”

Obasanjo’s Statement On Atiku
He said Onanuga’s statement is bad public relations for the APC Presidential Candidate, adding that a good public relations doesn’t consist of attacking a critical public opinion.

Shaibu said: “If you face a PR challenge, like the Tinubu presidential campaign outfit suffers at the moment, talking down to the critical public or an opponent is like approaching a problem by methods that could make it worse.

“It is shameful and unfortunate that all that the APC can rely upon to campaign is what former President Olusegun Obasanjo had said. It is obvious that what the ruling party is hoping to achieve is to continue in their old habit of obfuscation and taking attention of the electorate away from issues that are critical to this election season.”

He added that while Atiku’s camp won’t waste much time to educate the APC and their presidential candidate to note that President Obasanjo has also made commendable remarks about Atiku which outdates the old story.

“We know that the only reason that the APC is re-presenting an old story about Atiku is because they are aware of the rejection of their party and its presidential candidate by Nigerians.

On the contrary, Atiku continues to appear with media town hall engagements and assuring Nigerias of his plans to recover the country from then ruins that the APC has made of it,” he added.