The row
over the claim that the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader,
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, subscribed to an oath to supplant the party’s vice
presidential candidate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, should the APC win the March
28 election raged, yesterday.
The APC,
through its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and the
Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPO), vehemently denied the charge.
But the
Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO) insisted
that Tinubu planned to replace Osinbajo six months after APC would have won the
presidential election.
Mohammed
said the allegation was designed to divert attention from “the runaway success
of the APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, at the Chatham House
in London last Thursday.
The
APCPCO, in its own statement by its Director of Media and Publicity, Mallam
Garba Shehu, said there was no iota of truth in the claim first raised by his
PDPPCO counterpart, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, on Friday.
‘Nauseating
claims’
The APC
National Publicity Secretary, in his statement issued in London, said “the PDP
and the Jonathan administration still do not have any answer to what has now
become an epochal moment that has separated the wheat from the chaff.”
”Our
presidential candidate’s globally-acclaimed outing has presented Nigerians, and
indeed the global community, with a choice between a visionless President and
principled President-in-waiting”, he stated.
”Having
failed to discredit that outing, the PDP and the Jonathan administration have
now resorted to making nauseating claims that are totally untrue, absolutely
incomprehensible and nothing but sheer bunkum”.
The APC
said the claim is the latest in a series of desperate moves by the PDP and the
Jonathan administration since the emergence of Buhari as the APC presidential
candidate,
”They
have thrown everything imaginable at Gen. Buhari, but he has continued to wax
stronger and stronger. They said he was not qualified, that he was too old,
then they fabricated a medical report of an illness of their own choice,
sponsored death wish adverts against him and instituted a myriad of court cases
to stop him.
The
preposterous claim of a secret oath – reminiscent of what they do in their own
party – is their latest desperate act”.
The
opposition party said it has so far refrained from engaging Fani-Kayode in his
“game of character assassination, abuses and irresponsible name calling”.
`Tales by
moonlight’
Shehu, in
his statement, asked the PDP and the Presidency to focus more on the dwindling
economy and corruption instead of engaging in unfounded lies.
“ The
Director of Communication for the PDP Presidential Campaign, Chief Femi
Fani-Kayode, said with uncanny impudence that the APC Vice Presidential
candidate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, was made to agree to an oath to resign six
months after and allow Senator Bola Tinubu, in the event that APC wins the
presidential election. Quite evidently, this piece of bunkum was meant to
vitiate the integrity of our respected Vice Presidential candidate by the band
of dishonourable politicians in the PDP. We state, without any iota of
equivocation, that this is untrue and unfounded,” the APCPCO statement said.
“It
continued: We have shown these examples of the PDP-led Presidency’s conduct in
desperately laying hold at straw despite the rejection of the Nigerian people,
ahead of the general elections. Unfortunately, the PDP-led Presidency seeks to
change the narrative by resorting to tales by moonlight.
“On our
part, we shall continue to insist on these enviable standards of good governance
in the Nigerian political space.”
`APC
cannot deny conspiracy’
But
responding to the APC statements, the Director of Media and Publicity of the
PDPPCO, Fani-Kayode, maintained that the “plot will fail”. He dismissed the
response by the APC as feeble.
Fani-Kayode
said that rather than respond to the alleged plot, Lai Mohammed claimed that
the issue was meant to “divert attention from the runaway success of the APC
presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, at the Chatham House in London
last Thursday.”
“From the
APC response, it is clear that they have something to hide. They clearly
cannot deny this dangerous plot”.
He
continued: “We are not surprised by the denials of the APC in this matter. They
are and will always be a party that is built on lies. The APC is now throwing
stones and hurling baseless allegations and insults at our President, our
leaders and our party. They forget that those who live in glass houses should
not throw stones.
“It is
not the PDP whose presidential candidate killed people by the application of
retroactive legislation and that sent innocent men to their early graves by
sending them to jail unlawfully for hundreds of years without any recourse to
due process.
“We stand
by our claims and the only thing that is outlandish in this matter is the
bizarre and insatiable lust for power of the APC and those that are premising
their presidential ambition on someone else’s demise. “
The
Bakare expisode
The
PDPPCO went on: “Such morbid projections have no place in any civilised
society. The truth is that the APC is a party that is used to back-room deals
where people take oaths and in which people are asked to sign perjurous and
illegal letters of resignation even before they are elected into office. If
anyone doubts that they should ask Pastor Tunde Bakare who was asked to sign a
letter of resignation by both Tinubu and Buhari in 2011 even when he had not
been elected to the exalted position of Vice President.
“We stand
by our claim and we warn the APC and their leaders to stop playing Russian
roulette with the destiny of the Nigerian people. They can rest, assured that
any arrangement or back room deal that is outside the democratic process and
that is outside the will of the Nigerian people will be resisted. They must not
throw our country into yet another round of crisis, turmoil, instability and
uncertainty by entering into and attempting to enforce any sordid and
unacceptable resignation pact which is designed to eventually usher in Bola
Tinubu as President.
“We wish
General Buhari good health and long life and it is only a small handful of
desperate and unconscionable elements within the leadership of his own party
that wish him otherwise. We advise him to watch his back and take full measures
to protect himself against these desperate elements because their plan is, at
the very worst, for either Tinubu to take over the position of Vice President
after the planned resignation of Osinbajo and then wait for something untoward
to happen to Buhari so that he can take over or, at best, for Osinbajo to take
over and for Tinubu to rule through him.
“Both
plans and projections are repugnant and they are both rooted in treachery.
“Whichever
way, whether it is Buhari or Tinubu, these plans shall not come to pass because
Buhari and the APC will not win the presidential election. We say this because,
by the grace of God and the will of the Nigerian people, we shall give them the
thrashing of their lives in that election.
Private
jets, bank accounts
Meanwhile,
the APC, yesterday, alleged a plot by the PDP administration to ground aircraft
and also freeze bank accounts of some of its notable members.
A
statement by Shehu said the clandestine move was aimed at destabilizing the APC
and crippling the electoral chances of its presidential flag-bearer, Buhari, in
the forthcoming elections.
In a
reaction, Fani-Kayode called on Nigerians to question the APC leaders on how
they acquired private jets.
“It is
interesting that the APC has, for the very first time, admitted that some of
its leaders own private jets. It will be interesting to know from the APC how
these leaders who either occupied public offices or still occupy public offices
acquired these jets. In fact, where did the money with which they procured the
jets come from?”, the PDPCO Director of Media and Publicity said.
Vanguard
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