The spokesperson of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, has lashed out at the Director of Strategic Communications of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council, Dele Momodu, for condemning the manifesto of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.

Momodu, in an article published on Sunday, described Tinubu’s manifesto, Action Plan, as an appropriation of MKO Abiola’s legacy, noting that it was copied from the late politician’s ‘Hope 93’ manifesto.

Reacting via a statement issued on Monday, Keyamo, who is the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, said Momodu’s criticism of Tinubu’s manifesto was “nothing but a joke”.

The minister described the PDP as “an unserious and broken opposition party”, saying Momodu should stay in “his accustomed lane of praise-singing socialites” instead of “dabbling in the more demanding job of critiquing policy statements”.

He stated that the publisher of Ovation Magazine, in a column published in ThisDay Newspaper on October 26, 2019, narrated how Tinubu began the “systematic and robust increase of Lagos’ Internally Generated Revenue, making the state one of the richest self-sustaining governments in Africa, and how he single-handedly revived and revamped local governments in Lagos and brought developments to practically every part of the state.”

He added: What is obvious is that even the hirelings of the PDP like Momodu are clear believers in Asiwaju’s ability and capacity to deliver on his promises but have decided to play politics this time around.

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“Our expectation is that our Action Plan would inspire other political parties, especially the intellectually bankrupt PDP, to engage us constructively on the initiatives and programmes we intend to implement. True to type, PDP has again reacted, in our view, without even reading the content on the document. All they are interested in is the title of our message, not the quality of our ideas. We are extremely amused, but not entirely shocked. This only demonstrates once again their incurable incapacity to act as a credible opposition to the ruling party.

“Dele Momodu should have rather stayed in his accustomed lane of praise-singing socialites and the likes instead of dabbling in the more demanding job of critiquing policy statements. It is clearly not his forte! The quality of his recent write-up is a testament that his team is not made up of experts in governance and policy formulation. He must have gathered his team of photographers and video editors to read through a document that is far beyond their tabloid-centred minds.

“One would have expected Dele Momodu to make clear comparative analyses between Hope ‘93 campaign document of MKO Abiola and the Renewed Hope document of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He goofed miserably. He was just huffing and puffing without substance. A write-up that was intended to be a critique of a document on its supposed lack of details ended up itself as an empty shell.

“We are surprised that Dele Momodu could ask what our candidate is known for. Since he has asked either out of self-denial or selective amnesia, we will answer him with his exact words in the past.”

Keyamo continued: “Of course, track records should be critical in evaluating any party or candidate. If we may ask Dele Momodu, what are your party’s track records? When the country had substantial receipts from crude oil export, your party squandered it all. PDP represent what the Yoruba proverbially call ‘Arungun’ (squanderer).

“They promised the people of South-East Second Niger Bridge for 16 years, yet, nothing was built. Today, thanks to President Muhammadu Buhari of APC, the Second Niger Bridge is completed.

“At a time, a former spokesperson of your government said Nigeria couldn’t afford train coaches, much less rail lines. Today, we have Lagos-Ibadan, Itakpe-Warri rail lines.”

He said with the dwindling resources and global economic challenges, President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has lifted millions of Nigerians out of poverty with the administration’s National Social Investment Programme.

The minister stated that Tinubu has many technocrats to pick his team from, adding that the APC presidential candidate is surrounded by “brilliant, intelligent, accomplished, and cosmopolitan leaders across all sectors, spheres and walks of life.”

“He will hit the ground running when he takes over power in May 2023, by the grace of God and most Nigerians. As he did in Lagos state, he will assemble quality and talented leaders in his cabinet that will see to the delivery of our campaign promises,” Keyamo said.

The Star