The All Progressives Congress (APC) has noted that Bola Tinubu, its presidential candidate, was not in any way attacking President Muhammadu Buhari in his recent comments about fuel scarcity and unavailability of new naira notes.
The party said in a statement on Thursday that Tinubu did not mention Buhari’s name, neither did he blame the president for the challenges.
“For the records, Asiwaju Tinubu during APC campaign rally at Abeokuta on Wednesday, in his statement, did not mention, blame or accuse President Muhammadu Buhari for the current challenges in the country,” the statement said.
“Asiwaju Tinubu was only adverting government’s attention to the sabotage being carried out by some Fifth Columnists in the system, possibly working in cahoots with the PDP,”
At the party’s presidential campaign in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State on Wednesday, Tinubu had alleged that there are attempts by some persons to sabotage his chances of victory in the February 25, 2023 poll.
He said fuel scarcity and the redesign of three naira notes won’t dissuade his supporters from voting for him in the February 25 election.
His comments generated a lot of reactions from different quarters including the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who said Tinubu was trying to blackmail Buhari over his looming defeat in the election.
However, reacting through the statement by the Director of Media and Publicity of the APC PCC, Bayo Onanuga, the ruling party maintained that Tinubu did not blame Buhari.
The APC also alleged that the PDP are working in cahoots with fifth columnists in the system to inflict avoidable pains on Nigerians for political gain.
“The CBN officials, including Governor Godwin Emefiele have said many times that enough new Naira notes have been supplied to the banks, yet our people complain that they have not been able to get the new notes,” the statement continued.
“In recent days, many ATMs are either not working or when working they are dispensing the old notes, just a few days to the January 31 deadline.
“Similarly, Asiwaju Tinubu is aware of the efforts by President Buhari to end the fuel queues, by chairing a 14-man panel. Yet the queues and agony continue.
“For a presidential candidate, who cares about the suffering of our people, he has a duty to warn government that its efforts to make life better for Nigerians are being sabotaged on several fronts.
“Our presidential candidate only re-echoed what is well known and acknowledged, even by President Buhari himself at different fora: That there are Fifth Columnists in and outside of government who often throw spanners in the works against good intentions and programmes of the government.”