President Goodluck Jonathan, and General Muhammadu Buhari
APC debunks Osinbajo's oath-taking allegation, alleges plans to freeze opposition leaders' accounts
Fani-Kayode: We stand by our claim
By Chuks Okocha and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja, and Jaiyeola Andrews and Victor Efeizomor in Asaba
As the two main political parties for this year’s general election await the new poll dates, which were fixed after the conclusion of their nationwide presidential campaign rallies, their candidates have turned to public meetings involving socio-political, economic, and cultural groups in a continued bid to ingratiate themselves with the electorate. President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, and the candidate of All Progressives Congress, General Muhammadu Buhari, have been meeting stakeholders within and outside the country to campaign for votes.
As the two main political parties for this year’s general election await the new poll dates, which were fixed after the conclusion of their nationwide presidential campaign rallies, their candidates have turned to public meetings involving socio-political, economic, and cultural groups in a continued bid to ingratiate themselves with the electorate. President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, and the candidate of All Progressives Congress, General Muhammadu Buhari, have been meeting stakeholders within and outside the country to campaign for votes.
This is as APC dismissed as sickening and outlandish a claim by the Jonathan campaign organisation that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a national leader of the opposition party, planned to replace Professor Yemi Osinbajo as vice president through the back door. Spokesman of the PDP presidential campaign organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, had claimed at a press conference on Friday that the APC vice presidential candidate had sworn an oath to yield his position to Tinubu within six months of the inauguration of an APC federal government if the party wins the March 28 presidential election.
But in a statement on Saturday, APC’s national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, said the PDP oath claim was a lie merely being sown to try to dampen Buhari’s rapidly expanding popularity that was markedly enhanced by his emotional speech at London’s Chatham House think tank last week.
Mohammed stated, “Our presidential candidate’s globally-acclaimed outing has presented Nigerians, and indeed the global community, with a choice between a bumbling, ineffective, incoherent, clueless, visionless and incompetent president and an assertive, knowledgeable, dignified, purposeful and principled president-in-waiting.
Mohammed stated, “Our presidential candidate’s globally-acclaimed outing has presented Nigerians, and indeed the global community, with a choice between a bumbling, ineffective, incoherent, clueless, visionless and incompetent president and an assertive, knowledgeable, dignified, purposeful and principled president-in-waiting.
“Having failed to discredit that outing with a rented crowd, some of whom confessed to have been paid to carry placards they do not even understand, the PDP and the Jonathan administration have now resorted to making nauseating claims that are totally untrue, absolutely incomprehensible, and nothing but sheer bunkum…
“They have thrown everything imaginable at Buhari, but he has continued to wax stronger and stronger.”
APC added regarding the PDP claims, “With everything working against them, they engaged in a show of shame at The Chatham House that backfired badly, on the heels of their bare-faced lies that Buhari was hospitalised in London.
“The preposterous claim of a secret oath – reminiscent of what they do in their own party – by the apparently ailing spokesman of the Jonathan campaign organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, is their latest desperate act.”
“The preposterous claim of a secret oath – reminiscent of what they do in their own party – by the apparently ailing spokesman of the Jonathan campaign organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, is their latest desperate act.”
APC also alleged plans by the PDP-led federal government to cripple the opposition party’s campaign by freezing its accounts and grounding its planes. Director of the APC presidential campaign council, Garba Shehu, described the alleged plot as “bestial and undemocratic.”
Shehu said in a statement, “Information at our disposal has uncovered the ruinous plan by the Jonathan administration to use the aviation ministry and secret arm of the security service to hound and clampdown 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.
“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.”
Fani-Kayode, however, maintained at a press conference yesterday that he stood by his claim that Tinubu planned to supplant Osinbajo.
The PDP presidential campaign spokesman said, “From the APC response, it is clear that they have something to hide. They clearly cannot deny this dangerous plot. Does a vampire ever admit to being a vampire? Did Dr. Jeckyll ever tell anyone that he was also Mr. Hyde? Does a demon ever admit to being a demon? Does darkness ever admit to being darkness? Do people that are obsessed with taking power at all costs and by any means ever admit that they are obsessed and desperate?”
The two main presidential candidates have intensified public meetings with voters in key towns and areas they feel would help to improve their standing ahead of the election.
A senior official of the PDP presidential campaign organisation who preferred anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, told THISDAY that the party will not adopt fresh state-by-state campaigns. Rather, it would adopt a new approach of meeting opinion leaders, artisans, and professional bodies, the official said.
He said, “As the president has commenced, the campaigns will follow the style of holding town hall meetings. Like last Friday, President Jonathan met with opinion leaders in Delta State. He met with the traditional rulers in Asaba and some former militants in the state.
“This is the pattern to be followed. The rallies are over, except for states like Yobe, the FCT, and one or two other states.”
Jonathan recently met some opinion leaders and traditional rulers in Lagos and some South-west states in continuation of the nationwide consultation. In Lagos, the president met with the Yoruba Council of Elders, Igbo traders, and market women.
Deputy national chairman (South) of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, confirmed the strategy of town meetings, saying, “In the next phase of our campaign, we are going to emphasis on town hall meetings, meeting face-to-face with the people, and getting to know what is going on.
“That has been going on in virtually all the states of the federation. Some of our governorship candidates have carried the campaigns to the markets, mechanic workshops, and so on. We are dealing with the people directly. So the campaign is on and strong.”
Former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, announced via Facebook at the weekend that Jonathan would visit Lagos State today. He said during the visit the president will meet with about 5,000 youths as part of a programme titled, “Meet the President.”
Jonathan met yesterday in Asaba with a large crowd of indigenes of northern Nigeria (Arewa) resident in the 17 southern states, who endorsed him as their preferred presidential candidate. At the meeting, he promised to implement the report of last year’s national conference if re-elected.
After more than a week of international engagements in the United Kingdom, APC leaders and their presidential candidate will return to Nigeria today to begin another stage of the campaigns, which sources within the party say would also consist mainly of direct consultations with strategic groups across the country.
THISDAY gathered from a party source in London that Buhari and Tinubu would come back to the country today while a number of the party’s leaders and officials had left for home yesterday. The source disclosed that the party’s new campaign strategy, which it intends to pursue until the elections, would involve series of town hall meetings in major cities across the country, especially, those not visited during the nationwide presidential campaign rallies.
“Buhari and other party leaders will be leaving London this weekend and they are due to commence series of town hall meetings from Tuesday,” the source said.
Some of the towns likely to host the APC town hall meetings include Onitsha, Aba, Asaba, and Gboko.
Following the postponement of the general election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, APC decided to scale down its campaign effort, preferring to hold strategic meetings and consultations with professional groups, religious bodies, and traditional institutions. The party has also used the opportunity to inspire international sympathy and support by embarking on a trip to London, where Buhari delivered an important lecture on Thursday at Chatham House whose impact has significantly pushed up the image of the opposition party.
In the speech at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, in London, Buhari had assured the international community that an APC government would ensure economic and political stability of the country and fight corruption head-on.
No comments:
Post a Comment