The presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, says the party is not responsible for the challenges bewildering the country.
The Star recalls that the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, said President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts in resolving fuel and new naira notes scarcity in Nigeria were being frustrated by some government officials working with the PDP ahead of the 2023 general election.
Earlier, Tinubu, while speaking at the APC presidential campaign rally in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital on Wednesday, alleged that there was a grand conspiracy to scuttle the 2023 general election.
The former Lagos State Governor declared that the current fuel crisis and naira redesign by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) were parts of the plot by some people to sabotage the forthcoming polls.
Reacting to the accusation via a statement issued on Thursday by the spokesperson of the Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP presidential standard-bearer said it was “pathetic that in less than 24 hours after Tinubu stood on the public stage at his presidential rally in Abeokuta, Ogun State, to accuse the Buhari administration of creating fuel scarcity and redesigning the naira to scuttle the 2023 election, he is turning around to blame the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for his woes.”
Ologbondiyan added: “Is it not strange that Asiwaju Tinubu wants the world to believe that his caustic remarks against Buhari where intended for Atiku Abubakar and the PDP when neither Atiku nor PDP is involved in the monetary policies or the failure to arrest the horrifically unending fuel crisis.
“It is important to remind Asiwaju Tinubu that in accusing the ‘powers that be’ of creating fuel scarcity and hoarding the naira to truncate the election, he knew that President Buhari is the Minister of Petroleum Resources and that all agencies of government in charge of prospecting and distribution of petroleum resources are under his (Buhari) office.
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“Asiwaju also knew that President Buhari approved the redesigning of the naira and that issues of distribution of the naira notes are vested on the APC-controlled Federal Government and not on the PDP.
“It is therefore clear that Asiwaju’s verbal assaults against President Buhari is the official position of his confused, disoriented and disorganized Campaign Organization.
“It is noteworthy that having come to the conclusion, by himself, that he does not enjoy the support of President Buhari, having realized that his campaign is now falling apart with its leaders leaving in droves given his manifest rejection by Nigerians, Asiwaju Tinubu now seeks to blackmail the President and incite his followers to violence, with the view of truncating the electoral process and blaming it on President Buhari.
“This further explains why Asiwaju Tinubu had set up the dangerous militia group, code-named the Jagaban Army, which is reportedly being trained and equipped to unleash violence on Nigerians and truncate the electoral process, having realized that there is no way he can win in a free, fair and credible election.
“Asiwaju Tinubu had always sought to exonerate himself and blame only President Buhari for the failure of the APC administration in spite of the fact that he (Tinubu) is behind the corruption-ridden policies of the APC government that have brought untold hardships on Nigerians in the last seven and half years.
“His verbal somersaults within a space of less than 24 hours presents him as a person that must not be entrusted with power.
“Since Asiwaju Tinubu wants Nigerians to believe that he is fighting for their course, he will need to respond to some of these troubling questions;
“What has he done as a loaf of bread which sold at N300 in 2015 now sells for N1000 under the APC administration which he claimed to have brought into power?
“What has he done to encourage or alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians as kerosene which was being sold at N150 in 2015 is now selling for over N1000.
“What advise has Asiwaju Tinubu given to the Federal Government to save the situation as a bag of rice which sold for N8000 in 2015 went up to N46, 000 under his APC? The list is endless!
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“Asiwaju Tinubu’s politics had always been about ‘self and the cabal’ who never cared for Nigerians or the success of the government he claimed to have brought to power.”
The spokesman of the Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation, however, warned Tinubu to leave the PDP and its presidential candidate alone and “face his self-inflicted woes”.
“On our side, the Atiku/Okowa Campaign will not be distracted by Asiwaju Tinubu but will continue to focus on rallying with Nigerians in their determination to vote in Atiku Abubakar as the next President of Nigeria so that he can commence the onerous task of rebuilding our nation from the misrule of the APC,” he added.
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