Atiku, Tinubu Teams Fight Dirty

•APC is rudderless, soulless —Melaye •PDP lacks morals, it is shameless —Keyamo

By Taofeek Lawal, Yekini Jimoh, Taiwo Amodu
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THE presidential campaign councils of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Friday pounced on each other in a war of words.

A spokesperson of the PDP Presidential Campaign council, Senator Dino Melaye, in a statement described the ruling APC as a rudderless, floundering, reactive and retrogressive party which Nigerians should reject at the polls.

The APC team, in a reaction signed by Festus Keyamo, said the PDP lacked the moral right to attack the APC on any issue because it is a shameless party that constitutes a danger to the treasury of Nigeria.

The PDP statement reads: “As the campaign season has set in, Nigerians must be discerning to critically examine the conduct and character of the people and parties that seek to lead our great country as from May 29, 2023.

“However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is neither ready for election nor structured to govern, though its members are desperate to retain power. Sadly, the undiscerning is oblivious of the usual media hypnotism that the APC engages to confuse and mesmerise the unwary.

“I once had a cause to describe the APC as an NGO and not a political party. Even now that it has managed to have a contrivance called party executive, it remains formless, unstructured, uncoordinated and unorganised. It is not surprising, since as you may recall the coronation of the chairman of the party was a mere formalisation of the appointment approved by President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the live wire, navigator and camp commandant of the APC.

“As an indication of the unpreparedness of the APC to lead Nigeria, the party in its nearly 10 years of existence has no Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees is usually referred to as the soul or the conscience of the party.

“Without a soul, the party has remained rudderless, floundering, reactive and retrogressive. Before Ahmed Tinubu emerged as the flagbearer of the party against the run of play, he had in his usual entitled fashion been addressed as the leader of the party. However, neither he nor any other was good enough to lead the BOT, so the structure has remained sterilised.

“With the acephalic existence the party, it could only function under a caretaker committee. Again, no one was worthy to lead the intervening contraption but a sitting governor, who ordinarily should be preoccupied with the affairs of his state.

“As things stand, all the illegality committed in Buni’s era may be subjected to judicial interrogation. The shilly-shally continued until the presidential convention of parties fell due. Again, the APC acted disjointedly asking to be granted extension of time by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

“While the PDP had conducted its party convention and presidential election convention as scheduled, INEC had to babysit and spoon-feed the APC before it could hold its party and presidential primary convention. How the party dilly-dallied before ending up with the contentious selection of a running mate for its presidential candidate is another lamentable story waiting to be told another day.

“Another evidence of maturational lag manifested during the presidential primary. The national chairman of the party, acting for himself or a proxy, expressed preference for a candidate while majority of APC governors had their own choice. Though President Buhari, sometimes humoured to be the leader of the party, did not make any pronouncement, it is unlikely that the chairman acted alone without the approval of the man behind the mask. Till today it has been a ding-dong between the national chairman of the APC and the flag-bearer of the party. Where is the time to think or act on the good of Nigeria in all these?”

Melaye also pointed out that the inability of the APC to constitute its presidential campaign council had shown the direction it would take the country to if allowed to govern the country beyond 2023.

He said: “Perhaps a more telling indicator of the gross unpreparedness of the APC for governance is in the constitution of its campaign council. In its unguided attempt to be at pace with the better organised and better structured party like the PDP, the APC amateurs by-passed processes, ignored consultation, discarded vital inputs and ran to the press with a hurriedly hemmed list of Council members. As the joke goes, it is the matter they are still settling.

“The omission or commission arising from the composition has led to accusations and counter-accusations of usurpation of power, disregard for processes, violation of power boundaries, engagement of the dead and even the borrowing of names from other parties to make up numbers or profiles.

“The inauguration of the APC Campaign Council has since been postponed indefinitely! If the kick off of campaigns was unified by INEC, APC would still have held PDP and other parties down from commencing their campaign, but gentlemen, as you can see, PDP is already up and running.

“Further to these indices, the candidate of the APC appears not to be ready. You will recall that he was not available at the signing of the peace accord by political parties. He has also been rolling from one controversy to another. When it is not about his origin, it is about his age. When it is not about his academic qualification it is about his physical or physiological qualification. Something has to be invented every time to fill a gap. The latest invention was a recourse to an old fitness video to certify the health of a contender for the presidency of Nigeria.

“The presidency of Nigeria is neither a cycling competition nor a track event. Indeed, if it’s an athletic programme then Tobi Amusan ‘lo kan’.

“In Tinubu’s absence as a non-residential or off-campus contestant, his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, has been conducting himself within his own pitiable capacity, and in the process committing all kinds of gaffes, including likening Tinubu’s ruthlessness to Abacha’s degree or rewriting the Nigerian constitution to arrogate roles to himself in an unlikely government that is slipping from their fingers due to tardiness. It is for this gross demonstration of incompetence and lack of capacity that the APC has been rechristened ‘All Progressives Confusion’.

“Contrary to these irredeemable tendencies of APC the PDP, His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, his running mate, His Excellency, Ifeanyi Okowa, are moving ahead. The PDP has constituted its campaign council and the campaign will be on full steam at Uyo on October 10, 2022.

“Political disagreements are being resolved. The national chairman and the party’s flag-bearers are not at loggerheads. There are file photos of Atiku’s fitness. He is not sharing images of fitness; he is demonstrating it by being available, moving around and with presence of mind.

“Atiku is talking about concrete plans and actions not seeing the presidency as an award or hereditary title. He’s relating with all segments of the society and building hope for a united Nigeria. That is preparedness. That is capacity.

‘PDP lacks morals, shameless’

The APC Presidential Campaign Council, in its response, taunted the main opposition party, the PDP, over the latter’s internal strife. Festus Keyamo, SAN, Director of Public Affairs and Chief Spokesperson, Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council in a statement on Friday night said the PDP had no moral justification to comment on development within the APC.

Keyamo’s response was a reaction to a statement from a spokesperson of the Atiku campaign Organisation, Senator Dino Melaye, who dismissed the ruling party as rudderless and unprepared for campaigns ahead of the 2023 next general elections.

The Tinubu Campaign Organisation, however, said the face off between the PDP National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu and certain governors within the party has made the main opposition party unsellable before Nigerians.

Keyamo also noted that the allegation of corruption levelled against the PDP national chairman by Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike in an election year has courted dissaffection of Nigerians for the PDP.

The statement read in part: ”Our attention has been drawn to a statement by the PDP Campaign Council alleging that the APC is not ready to govern Nigeria.

“This most outlandish statement, coming from the PDP at a time it has become the theatre of the most absurd in this country, is most ironic and unfortunate. It reminds us of the Yoruba parable of the audacious thief summoning the effrontery to accuse the farm-owner of illegal trespass before the farm owner could raise the alarm.

“Firstly, in the past few weeks, the PDP has entertained Nigerians with scandalous issues that show the party remains a clear and present danger or threat to Nigeria’s treasury and equity. In the last few days, the public space has been inundated with allegations made by no less a person than a prominent Governor of the PDP accusing its National Chairman of being patently corrupt and of collecting a bribe of N1 billion from one of its candidates.

“The governor even threatened to ‘reveal more’ if there was a denial. The Party Chairman, Ayu, is yet to deny or debunk this allegation for fear of being stripped totally bare in public. Is this the party that claims it is ready for governance and that Nigerians can trust? A party without any iota of shame? “Instead of hiding his head in shame, the same Ayu went on a bribing spree, crediting the accounts of members of the NWC in a desperate and laughable attempt to hang on to office. Is this the party Nigerians can trust? Is this the party ready to govern Nigeria?

“Meanwhile, some Governors within the PDP have openly expressed reservation as to the capacity of the party leadership to deliver on its often touted promise to restructure and unite Nigeria when it is getting increasingly clear they are incapable of restructuring and unifying their own party to start with.

“This is owing to the fact that their party has a Northern Presidential candidate and a Northern Party Chairman and also ignored the principle of zoning because its perennial presidential hopeful cannot cede the opportunity to others in the spirit of national inclusion and cohesion, having consistently put his own personal interest above national interest. These concerns were expressed by some PDP Governors themselves. It is like hearing from the horse’s mouth. Need we say more? These frank and honest Governors are doing the Lord’s work for us.

“Every week, we are treated to a new revelation about the PDP crises and its profligate and thieving nature. A leopard can hardly change its spot, which means that the PDP is not repentant of its old ways. Certainly, Nigerians are not ready to be deceived again by these comic characters.

“We can all vividly recall the famous Dasukigate where money allocated for national security was shared among party chieftains whilst Boko Haram was ravaging the country. We are yet to recover from that trauma and the PDP is showing us that their patented technology for sharing sleazy funds is alive. It appears all their pipelines for siphoning and redistributing public funds are still very much intact and are, in fact, steaming to return to full operation.

“On our part, our party has shown its commitment to be fair to all regions in the country. Whilst the PDP was breaching its own Constitution on power rotation and fairness, the APC Governors rose above primordial sentiments and rejected a move to Zone the APC Presidential ticket to the North, insisting that power must shift to the South after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure. This is a party that believes in fairness and equity and all Nigerians can attest to that.

“Our party, being the largest party in Africa, has to consult far and wide with every critical stakeholder on campaign plans. We have put together a very strong women’s campaign team because we understand what it means to be inclusive and diverse and we are fully committed to the empowerment of women in the scheme of things. As a result, the women must have their say as to how campaigns should be run.

“On 31st May 2018, President Buhari, who is the leader of our party, signed the Not-Too-Young-To-Run Bill into law. The APC also has a very extensive and broad youth campaign team. This is a party ready for Nigeria; it is a party ready to address squarely the real issues affecting Nigerians.

“Our Presidential candidate has a track record. He has held Executive office; he has pioneered transformational changes. As at today, the IGR in Lagos has grown by 7400% from 1999 to 2021. This is one of the relevant issues that should animate public conversation at this moment; not the cacophony of sounds and fury from the PDP that signifies nothing.

“We advise the PDP to desist from its hallucinations and concentrate on rescuing itself before even thinking of ‘rescuing’ Nigeria.”