Presidency wants to ground my campaign, backers, says Buhari
The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) yesterday alleged plan by the Presidency to ground all aircraft being used by the party’s presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, as part of a grand plot to cripple his campaign.
Also being targeted for freezing by the authorities, according to APCPCO are the bank accounts of stalwarts of the party.
The Director, Media and Publicity of the campaign team, Mallam Garba Shehu, said in a statement that the move to destabilise Buhari might not be unconnected with the massive global attention on the APC after Buhari’s sterling performance at Chatham House, London last Thursday.
Shehu described the Presidency’s alleged plot as desperate, anathema, criminal and inimical to the nation’s nascent democracy and civilised human behaviour.
But he vowed that any such move “will be foiled by the citizens who have taken over the movement of change as symbolised by General Muhammadu Buhari.”
He added that the authorities plan to “use the Aviation Ministry and the secret arm of the Security Service to hound and clampdown on members of the APC, by prospecting obnoxious means that would ground private jets belonging to senior members of our party, in order to halt and slow down Buhari’s world-acclaimed phenomenal popularity as President-in-waiting.
Shehu added, “There is also a plot to block or freeze the bank accounts of APC chieftains like Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Rotimi Amaechi (Director General of APC Presidential Campaign Organisation), and other prominent leaders believed to be funding the General’s campaign; and availing him their aircraft for electioneering purposes.”
Shehu recalled that private jets conveying APC Governors including Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, had in the past being either prevented from taking-off or landing during crucial political occasions, particularly during the run up to the last governorship election in Ekiti State.
The organisation regretted what it called PDP’s descent into the abyss in its desperate bid to retain power, stressing that the party has become so delusional that it now fabricates outright lies to blackmail and denigrate the APC and its presidential candidate and his running mate Prof Yemi Osinbajo,all in an attempt to divert attention from the mess it has created in every facet of lives in the country.
He cited how the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), an appointee of the President, used his office to do a counter-affidavit and supporting written address to give tacit approval to a nocturnal group’s desire to truncate the use of card reader in the coming elections.
He said: “an online news blog, Sahara reporters, made copious public display of the two documents; the AGF, in doing a volte face, denied giving authorization to the staff members of his Office in that ignoble service to the Nigerian state.
“A patriotic Nigerian soldier, Captain Sagir Koli, had done a painstaking and elaborate audio recording of the meeting in which the Presidential order for the rigging of the 22nd June, 2014 Ekiti governorship election in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was handed down.
“Among the people present at the meeting were: Mr. Ayo Fayose, the greatest beneficiary of the nefarious rigging plot, Mr. Musiliu Obanikoro as the Minister of state for Defence, Brigadier-General Aliyu Momoh, the commander of 32nd Artillery Brigade, Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan, Minister for Police Affairs, Otunba Iyiola Omisore, PDP governorship candidate for Osun State.
“Meanwhile, Ayo Fayose, Jelili Adesiyan and Musiliu Obanikoro had variously made statements in attesting to the veracity of the nocturnal meeting; President Goodluck Jonathan, pressured to probe the incident, peremptorily foreclosed such investigative check when he said ‘If someone comes up with a spurious allegation that has no substance and the person disappears, of course, what do you want me to do?’
“Obviously, this President is not mindful of his oath of allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria! The evidence of audio recording with the available technology can be used to ascertain the truth about the plot, regardless the presence or absence of the source of it. Apparently, the President, caught in the act of ordering an electoral heist, is unwilling to initiate a probe that will indict and incriminate him.
“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.
“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. The resort to deliberate falsehood and unfounded allegations represent the PDP-led Presidency’s unmistakable beclouding of the campaign issues of the forthcoming election.
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