Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has asked Nigerians not to get carried away by the promises of Atiku Abubakar, his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart.
Bayo Onanuga, Director of Media & Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, in a statement signed on Tinubu’s behalf, said the former vice president should be ashamed of his party’s record in office.
Atiku had said the best period Nigerians enjoyed under the current democratic dispensation was when the PDP was in power.
Responding, Tinubu said Atiku was “embellishing the locust years as if it was a golden era in our history.”
He said, “We need to warn Nigerians to be wary of the sugar-coated promises of former vice president, Atiku Abubakar and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as they embark on their inordinate and desperate campaign to gain power at all cost.
“A party that should be eternally shameful about its appalling record in governance between 1999 and 2015 is now busy rewriting history, embellishing the locust years as if it was a golden era in our history.
“Of course, this is fake history at its worse. We are not fooled. Nigerians should also not be fooled about the boldfaced lies, being articulated by the candidate and his party.
“What is more shocking is Atiku’s audacity in standing up to ask for our votes despite what his boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote about him in his book, ‘My Watch’. Obasanjo wrote that it would have been an unpardonable mistake “and sin against God to foist him on Nigeria”. Obasanjo still believes so till tomorrow.”
“Obasanjo still rues till today making Atiku his vice president in 1999, only to discover later, his shadowy parentage, his propensity to corruption, his tendency to disloyalty, his inability to say and stick to the truth all the time, a propensity for poor judgment, his belief and reliance on marabouts, his lack of transparency, his trust in money to buy his way out on all issues and his readiness to sacrifice morality, integrity, propriety, truth and national interest for self and selfish interest. We are, however, not totally surprised about Atiku’s latest desperation.”
Tinubu also tackled Atiku over some promises he made at the PDP presidential rally in Abuja, saying, “Atiku is aware that this is his last shot at the elusive presidency”.
“He claimed at his rally in Abuja on Saturday that the country is not secure for trading and farming, a false narrative that he has been pushing around for some time, since he relocated to Nigeria from his base in Dubai, principally to contest the election.
“We believe in his private moment that Atiku will concede that his view about insecurity is exaggerated. Our country is certainly better secure than in 2015 when the PDP allowed insurgents to seize 17 local councils in Borno and some four councils in Atiku’s home state of Adamawa State, when Abuja was under constant bomb attacks and people slept with eyes wide open. What further proof of progress made by the APC does Atiku need than the fact that he was able, recently, to carry his party men and women to Maiduguri to hold a rally, without any attacks by insurgents and bandits.
“Atiku can also drive smoothly from Yola, his state capital to Jada, his home town on a reconstructed road by the Buhari-led APC administration. The road was impassable for 8 years Atiku was Vice President and got progressively bad and totally cut off from civilisation until the Buhari government reconstructed it.”