The Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for the 2023 general elections, Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed, has said the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, are fighting for second and third positions in the race.
Senator Baba-Ahmed, who spoke to journalists in Abuja on Thursday also called on the Vice Presidential candidate of the APC, Kassim Shettima, to tune down his attacks on individuals and their lifestyles.
He asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to address the nation on what it intended to do with “ungoverned spaces” that elections were supposed to be conducted next year.
Baba-Ahmed said in the “squabble for second and third positions, some erstwhile major political parties appear to have crossed the boundaries of decency to transgress our peaceful activities and our focus on political schedules.
“An eminent group of statesmen under the aegis of the National Peace Committee (NPC) brought together all the presidential candidates to sign a peace accord, which represents an agreed code of conduct for the 2023 presidential election.
“It is unfortunate that despite the noble objectives of this initiative, disinformation and misinformation about the Labour Party and its candidates have become fashionable in this election season.”
And in a swipe at the APC’s Presidential candidate, the Labour Party (LP)’s Vice President candidate stated that it is noble to be a pure water seller than that of a certain ‘white substance.’
According to Datti Baba-Ahmed: ”APCs strategy against Peter Obi now appears very clearly centred on promoting falsehood, in addition to empty and derogatory personal attacks, and of course this is because they can find no contentious points of negativity to push.
”Little wonder that their Vice Presidential candidate has consistently put to shame the noble heritage of the great Bornu Empire, in his unguarded and uncultured public pronouncements, which expose his intellectual laziness and discomfort with empirical facts and arguments. Regular insults which have now become his trademark, have not spared the current Vice President whom he directed to go and sell ice cream, nor the former Vice President whom he described as a pure water seller, a noble venture which serves the populace better than a certain white substance.
”It is pertinent to recall how Mr. Shettima at a recent public event belittled Atiku Abubakar’s educational qualification as well as the modest lifestyle of Peter Obi. Clearly Mr. Shettima is out of touch with reality and cannot understand that people like Peter Obi who have reached the heights in business and material achievement have long transcended the need for ostentatious display of wealth.
”We congratulate Mr. Shettima on having improved his dressing, but equally remind him that he needs to improve on his public composure and discipline in communication. Shettima is called upon to speak kindly and more responsibly about all personalities if only to uphold long-established standards.
”We cannot also forget his disposition and uncooperative attitude when hundreds of schoolgirls were abducted under his watch as governor in 2014 where he did little to secure them in the first place or facilitate their rapid rescue; a Governor under who education was sustained as ‘forbidden.’ The circumstances of his emergence as a Candidate in 2011 leaves yet many questions unanswered.”