₦airaland Forum

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has berated the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, for his hypocritical attempts to extricate himself from the many failures of the ruling party.

Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said this in a statement, in Abuja, on Wednesday.

Shaibu said this while reacting to Tinubu’s latest attack against President Muhammadu Buhari at the APC Presidential Campaign rally held in Calabar, on Tuesday.

Atiku’s media aide had quoted Tinubu as saying during the rally in the Cross River State capital that, “Today, they moved the exchange rate from ₦200 to ₦800. If they had repaired it, if they had arrested this, we wouldn’t be where we are today, we would be greater. They don’t know the way, they don’t know how to think, they don’t know how to do it.”

A few days ago in Abeokuta, Atiku said that Tinubu had accused President Muhammadu Buhari of incompetence especially with regards the scarcity of the new naira notes and the petrol situation in the country.

However, Shaibu quoted Atiku as saying that Tinubu was not only a “pernicious and lubricious hypocrite” but also “a death-defying politician who is trying to be clever by half.”

He added that it is funny that Tinubu, who proudly held the position of national leader of the APC for the last eight years, could throw Buhari under the bus “in his failed and desperate quest for power.”

Shaibu recalled that Tinubu had before the election season even defended the exchange rate policy of the Buhari administration when a group of youths led by Moremi Ojudu led a protest to his Lagos home on February 9, 2017, when the dollar hit ₦500.

He said Ms Ojudu, the daughter of Babafemi Ojudu, a special adviser on political affairs to Buhari, had challenged Tinubu over the declining of the naira but Tinubu was seen on video telling protesting youths that, “I am not worried about the exchange rate because your salary should be in Naira and you are not an importer. Maybe that is even teaching us a lesson to be dependent on our domestic product.”

Atiku was also quoted as saying that “Tinubu has disingenuously been criticising President Buhari, trying to extricate himself from the failures of the APC which he had vigorously defended in the last eight years. Nigerians must not be deceived by this charlatan who is now posing to be on the side of the masses.

“Tinubu is the APC, mind, soul and body. He was the national leader of the party even before Buhari became the Presidential candidate. Is it possible for a snail to deny its own shell? Tinubu needs to give up this rascally act and take ownership of the failure of his party in the last eight years. His latest outburst is nothing but diversionary tactics,” he said.

Atiku described Tinubu as a deceitful politician who likes to throw his friends under the bus whenever there is a little challenge.

He said: “When some disgruntled APC leaders were against Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s ambition, Tinubu threw Ambode under the bus. He ensured Ambode never returned despite entreaties from President Buhari, Governor Atiku Bagudu and several others. Curiously, he is now taking credit for Ambode’s achievements including the transformation of the Oshodi district.

“This is the sort of person Tinubu is. He is a user who throws his friends under the bus when things get tough. Nigerians have been facing petrol scarcity for nearly a year. Why is Tinubu just speaking about it now that elections are a few days away?

“Why is Tinubu just attacking Buhari’s policies, many of which have been in place for years? In any case, the previous Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, said at the 65th Tinubu symposium on March 28, 2017 that it was Tinubu’s economic policy that the Buhari regime was using. So, why is Tinubu all of a sudden trying to distance himself from his own failed policy?

“As elections approach and the reality slowly dawns on Tinubu, he will increase his attacks against the President in order to distance himself from the failure that his party has become. Nigerians must not fall for this trick.

“Ahmad Lawan, whom Tinubu openly supported, is the current Senate President. His lackey and godson, Femi Gbajabiamila is the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Both of them, who are proud rubber stamps, have been approving all of Buhari’s loans without question which further weakened the currency. Where was Tinubu when this was happening?

“Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who was Tinubu’s commissioner for eight years and his proxy at the Presidential Villa, also headed Buhari’s economic team and chaired the National Economic Council by virtue of his position as Vice-President. Where was Tinubu when policies were being implemented? Why didn’t he speak up?

“Tinubu should focus on his failing campaign and stop trying to deceive Nigerians who are on the receiving end of his failed party’s misrule.”

The Lagos State government on Saturday said security agencies will find and prosecute the hoodlums who attacked the convoy of Abdul-Azeez Adediran (Jandor), governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the coming 2023 election in the state.

In a statement by Gbenga Omotoso, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, sent to POLITICS NIGERIA, the government said it was “shocked” by the video of a group of thugs shooting in broad daylight in Surulere.

Three persons were reportedly killed, while others sustained various degree of injuries when supporters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and the PDP engaged in violent clash during the Jandor’s political campaign in Surulere area of Lagos State on Friday.

But the Lagos government said the hoodlums are “henchmen of the PDP”.

“Security agencies are investigating the video, which has gone viral on the social media. We believe they will fish out and prosecute the evil actors, who are believed to be henchmen of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“We condemn this savagery that has portrayed our state, the safest in Nigeria, in a bad light. That is not who we are; we are civilized and cultured.

“Following advice from competent sources, including elders and respectable Lagosians, we will henceforth shun any forum that may require us being together with PDP and its agents of violence.

“Consequently, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu regrets to announce that he will not be participating at The Platform Governorship Debate of January 29, 2023.

“The Governor holds Pastor Poju Oyemade and the Covenant Christian Church family in high esteem and cherishes future opportunities to engage the congregation and render accounts of his stewardship to them as integral parts of the Lagos electorate.

“We will never be found in the company of those to whom the lives of innocent Lagosians mean nothing. Mr Sanwo-Olu won’t share a podium with them,” the statement by Omotoso reads.

Tinubu has, in some inexplicable ways, developed a penchant for making scathing remarks about Buhari anytime he's in Abeokuta.

The Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has advised his APC counterpart, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to desist from visiting Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Bola Tinubu

This comes after a recent development that caught the former Lagos State Governor throwing subtle jabs at President Muhammadu Buhari's government.

Pulse reports that the APC Presidential candidate, while addressing the mammoth crowd of supporters at his campaign rally in Ogun State on Wednesday, January 25, 2023, alleged that the lingering fuel scarcity in the country was a plot designed to scuttle the upcoming elections.

He also faulted the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to introduce new Naira notes, claiming that was intended to sabotage the election.

“They don’t want this election to hold. They want to sabotage it. Will you allow them?

“They have started coming up with the issue of ‘no fuel’. Don’t worry, if there is no fuel, we will trek to cast the vote.

“If you like increase price of fuel, hide the fuel or change the ink on the naira notes, we will win the election," Tinubu told the rally at the MKO Abiola stadium, Kuto, Abeokuta.



Obi Mocks Tinubu

Reacting to the development via a statement by Head of Media, Obi/Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Diran Onifade, Obi urged Tinubu's handlers to tell him to stop going to the Gateway state.

Recall that prior to the APC presidential primaries last year, Tinubu was in Abeokuta where he went into a tirade, calling out those he perceived to be working against his ambition including the state governor, Dapo Abiodun who he infamously referred to as 'Eleyi' - Yoruba condescending way of saying 'You.'

He also made a mockery of Buhari's previous electoral losses when he said the president failed (“O lule”) three times before he (Tinubu) came to his aid.

He didn't stop there, the then-aspirant also claimed that it was his turn to be president by saying “Emi lokan”.

Making reference to the incident, Obi wondered why his APC opponent always seemed to get things wrong anytime he goes to Abeokuta.

The statement read: “If I were to be Tinubu’s adviser, I would have advised him to stop going to Abeokuta. It was in the same Abeokuta that he made the gaffe of ‘Olule’ and how President Muhammadu Buhari was crying on TV, ’emi lokan’ and all that.

“Now, he (Tinubu) is saying the fuel scarcity is meant to make the elections fail and how they are going to take over power from them. Who are they or them?

“He could have been talking to the CBN governor (Godwin Emefiele) and the Minister of Petroleum and who is the minister of petroleum in this respect, President Muhammadu Buhari. The same man that Tinubu has been campaigning that he wants to take over from and continue the good work.

“I think his advisers should advised him to stop going to Abeokuta because he gets things wrong every time he goes