The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has said the presidential standard-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, lied about his position on the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket.
Tinubu said Atiku was playing to the gallery on the APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, adding that the former Vice-President did not see his emergence from the North after 8 years regime of President Muhammadu Buhari who hails from the same region as “politics of exclusion”.
The PDP presidential candidate, in an interview on Arise TV on Friday, had said he rejected Tinubu’s request to be his running mate, saying he has never supported a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket.
However, Tinubu, in a statement by the spokesperson of his campaign organisation, Bayo Onanuga, said Atiku, when asked to justify why the PDP jettisoned Section 3c of its constitution which enshrines power rotation between the North and South, “tried to fudge his answer by focussing on Governor Nyesom Wike and his effort to reconcile with him after he, a northerner snatched the presidential ticket that ought to have been taken by a southerner.
“While Atiku was playing to the gallery on APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, he didn’t see seeking to be President after 8years of a President from his part of Nigeria as politics of exclusion.
“Probed further, Atiku provided several contradictory answers. In one breath, he said power rotation is not in the constitution. In another breath, he said the PDP has never “micro zoned any position’.
“Then he admitted that the party has always rotated power between the North and the South. Atiku’s justification as to why he became PDP’s presidential candidate, instead of a southerner is a perfect example in ellipsis: “In politics”, he said, “we negotiate power through negotiations (Sic)”. Whatever that means.
“Atiku ever an expert in not telling the truth also did not come clean over his once-upon a time preference for same-faith ticket. In 1993, after Atiku and Kingibe lost to MKO Abiola in the SDP presidential primary in Jos, Atiku was the choice of the Yar’Adua camp to become Abiola’s running mate. Abiola overlooked him and picked the more cerebral diplomat and bureaucrat, Babagana Kingibe.
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“In all the tonnes of biographies written about him, there was no where he said he opposed Shehu Yar’Adua’s support for his candidacy as Abiola’s VP. He was not against it, since it favoured him. Now, it is politically convenient and opportunistic for him to oppose Tinubu-Shettima ticket,” Onanuga stated.
The TCO spokesman added that Atiku lied about how many times he contested governorship election in Adamawa, or old Gongola state.
“Mr. Presidential candidate, in case you don’t know due to your limited education, you run for an office, only, when you are on the ballot in an election. Your signifying interest in an office does not mean the same as running for the office.
“From available records, the first time you contested the governorship election in your state was in 1999. Your name entered the ballot for the first time and you won,” he added.
Onanuga further stated that the PDP presidential candidate also exhibited “poor knowledge” of history when he claimed that Abraham Lincoln contested the presidency five to six times before he eventually won.
He said: “This is a beer parlour tale that has been recycled over time. Lincoln contested U.S. presidency twice. He ran in 1860 and 1864 and won both, before he was assassinated on 15 April, 1865.
“The false story about Lincoln’s failed presidential bids sprang from his previous failed state and national elections, from his state of Illinois. They were not the same as America’s presidential election.
“According to historians, Lincoln lost his first election in 1832 for Illinois state legislature. In 1834, he ran again and won.
“In 1843 he ran for Congress. He lost. Three years after in 1846, Lincoln ran for Congress again – this time he won and went to Washington. From established history, in 1848, Lincoln ran for re-election to Congress and lost. In 1854, he ran for Senate of the United States. He lost. Lincoln also made another failed bid for U.S. Senate from Illinois in 1858. He lost to Democrat Steven Douglas.”
The Tinubu Campaign Organisation spokesperson noted that Atiku “lied” and displayed “ignorance” during his interview on Arise TV, saying the former Vice-President exposed himself as “a man who is not prepared for the job he is applying for and a man who can not be entrusted with our commonwealth.”
READ ALSO: Obi not a threat, he lacks structures to win Presidency – Atiku
Onanuga added: “Poor Knowledge of key sectors of the economy: We also found it surprising that the PDP presidential candidate does not know the contribution of oil and gas industry to Nigeria’s GDP. He claimed the sector represents 20% of our national GDP whereas it is below 10 percent and it is still falling owing to the growth of non-oil sector under the current All Progressives Congress led administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“False Data from Egypt: Atiku Abubakar wanted to impress his audience with his supposed knowledge of international affairs. He ended up embarrassing himself with false data he cited from Egypt. We found his claim that Egypt has 2 million police officers on the streets to be untrue. Various sources put the number at about 500,000 for a population of 104 million and not 80 million as falsely claimed by Atiku.
“Our conclusion is that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is ill-prepared to be President of Nigeria if he could bungle a Television interview that was planned well ahead of the day and time the duo of Dr. Reuben Abati and Ms.Tundun Abiola conducted it.
“We expected the PDP presidential candidate to be well informed on any issue before coming on national television to expose himself to avoidable ridicule.”
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