PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has fired back at the Buhari
Campaign Organization which had suggested that his emergence as the
main opposition flag bearer in next year’s election was the result of
money politics.
A statement issued on Monday by his campaign organization in Abuja,
said Atiku was not surprised that his emergence has caused confusion in
the camp of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Atiku noted that various
acts of corruption were being committed under the present
administration, which he said caused Transparency International to
classify Nigeria as a more corrupt country now than it was three years
ago.
Atiku stressed that the choice before
Nigerians was between a candidate who has provided over 50,000 jobs to
people in his personal capacity and the other under whom 11 million
Nigerians have lost their jobs.
He said: “We are not surprised
that there is confusion in the President’s camp. We expected that they
would be thrown into a catatonic state knowing that HE Atiku Abubabakr’s
emergence automatically means the coming end of their ignominious
reign. That much was admitted by the President’s former running mate,
Pastor Tunde Bakare when he praised the emergence of HE Atiku as an
‘Eagle’ and ‘a cosmopolitan wazobia’ politician. Obviously, Pastor Tunde
Bakare has foreseen that the era of 97% versus 5% has come to an end
with the emergence of the pan Nigerian Atiku Abubakar.
“We ask
how can the Buhari Campaign Organisation disparage the PDP Primary that
produced His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, when even the President’s own
wife, Aisha Buhari, has condemned the APC’s primary? Not only did Mrs
Buhari condemn APC’s primaries, but she also described them as ‘unfair’
and lacking in integrity. Who can know President Buhari better than his
wife?
“Eleven aspirants contested against His Excellency, Atiku
Abubakar, during the Presidential primary of the PDP. Every single one
of them accepted his victory. President Buhari was the only candidate
cleared by the APC to contest its primary, yet, a coalition of 5
aspirants are challenging his victory, that alone tells Nigerians his
emergence is fraudulent.
“Nigerians know that Atiku Abubakar is
the most investigated politician in Nigeria and any smear by the Buhari
administration remains just that. With the vindictiveness of President
Buhari, he would have arrested HE Abubakar if he had been found wanting.
“However,
to set the record straight, we want to remind Nigerians that PDP’s
primaries were genuine, free and fair. Atiku Abubakar got 1,532 votes in
a contest televised live to millions of Nigerians. The All Progressives
Congress’ primary, on the other hand, was a study in dictatorship and
corruption. The sole candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, scored almost 15
million votes. How could that occur without rigging or manufacturing of
faceless voters?”
“No wonder Transparency International rated
Nigeria as more corrupt today under Buhari than just three years ago
when the PDP was in power. The scandals are too numerous, including the
$25 billion NNPC contracts awarded without due process, the several
padded budgets, the $41 million Ikoyi Apartment scandal, the recall,
reinstatement and double promotion of pension thief and Buhari
financier, Abdulrasheed Maina, the N200 million grass cutter scandal,
and many others too numerous to mention.
“The choice before
Nigerians in 2019 is a simple one. Nigerians have a choice of electing a
lively candidate with a record of providing 50,000 jobs to Nigerians in
his private capacity versus the lifelessness (apologies to President
Donald Trump) of a candidate under whom Nigeria lost 11 million jobs and
became the world headquarters for extreme poverty.
“Nigerians
have a choice of a man who will provide an efficient and
business-friendly solution to the herdsmen crisis and a man whose
government said ‘giving land for cattle ranching is better than death.
“It
is very obvious that faced with such a choice that Nigerians would
definitely vote for the man who will Get Nigeria Working Again, hence we
are not surprised by this desperate statement from the Buhari
administration that is so shameless that they made a man implicated in
framing a man of God on spurious charges as their spokesman. If he can
lie against a man of God, should Nigerians believe anything he says
about the PDP and its candidate?”
