The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Thursday denied making any “mention, blame or accuse President Muhammadu Buhari” of orchestrating the ongoing naira redesign and fuel crisis to scuttle his election.
Rather, Tinubu accused Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, of distorting his statement on the alleged ploy in an attempt to create a wedge between him and President Buhari.
At the rally of APC in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Wednesday, Tinubu said some “the traitors” have plotted to sabotage the election, using the fuel scarcity and the naira redesign.
Tinubu asked his supporters at the rally: “They are plotting, but they will fail. They said fuel price will increase and reach N200 per litre. Go and relax. They don’t want this election to be held, they want to scuttle it. Will you allow them?”
Reacting to Tinubu’s controversial statement, Atiku accused him of attacking Buhari, saying such tirades wouldn’t save the APC Presidential candidate.
In a statement, which Phrank Shaibu, his Special Assistant, Public Communication, Atiku said: “Obviously frustrated by his inability to stop the cashless policy and currency redesign of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that will curb vote buying and enhance the credibility of next month’s election, the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has begun crying over his imminent defeat.
“Tinubu, while addressing a crowd in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said the currency redesign was targeted at him. Well, the Holy Bible says in Proverbs 28: 1 that “the wicked run when no one is chasing them, but an honest person is as brave as a lion.”
But a statement by Bayo Onanuga, Director, Media and Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council, on Thursday said contrary to Atiku’s position, Tinubu did not mention Buhari’s name in his remarks.
He said the opposition party and its candidate are “working in cahoots with fifth columnists in the system to inflict avoidable pains on our hapless people for political end.”
Tinubu’ statement as signed by Onanuga reads: “Nigerians should no longer be in doubt about those working in cahoots with fifth columnists in the system to inflict avoidable pains on our hapless people for political end.
“No sooner Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu empathised with the Nigerian people facing the dual crises of fuel and new Naira notes scarcity, than the opposition PDP and the Atiku camp issued a knee-jerk response, derailing from the issues, distorting Asiwaju’s statement and trying, in vain, to create a wedge between our presidential candidate and President Muhammadu Buhari.
“When the guilty are afraid of being uncovered, they try to push back with red-herring
“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.
“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.”
He noted that 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.
According to him, the 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.
The statement continued “How does an advisory genuinely made by Asiwaju Tinubu to protect and create goodwill for the government of his party become an attack? It can only be so in the jaundiced view of the PDP.
“It is in this light we found amusing the directionless Atiku Campaign’s bagful of mischief in their hurriedly put together press statement meant to gain shameful mileage from the suffering of Nigerians.
“PDP and Atiku should remember not to get high on their own smoke. No political blackmail and an attempt to create a conflict between Tinubu and his long-term ally, President Muhammadu Buhari can succeed. We have bad news for Atiku and his handlers: their latest mischief is therefore doomed to fail.”