Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, has urged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to apologise for its “undemocratic comment” against its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
Recall that the PDP Presidential Campaign Council had accused Tinubu of being desperate to become president by hook or crook.
In a statement by a spokesperson for the PDP Presidential Campaign Management Committee, Senator Dino Melaye, the party said: “The desperation of Tinubu to be President of Nigeria at all cost, by all means, and by crook and hook, was eloquently evidenced in his charge during his woeful outing in London.”
He said a man who played dumb when asked critical questions on governance, suddenly roared into vibrancy threatening to snatch power.
“How else will power be snatched through the ballot box if not a resort to violence, electoral violation, and other unorthodox methods of grabbing power,” Melaye said.
But Keyamo in a statement issues on Friday said that the main opposition party was devising a plot to bring down the APC presidential candidate through “unnecessary scare-mongering tactics and crass vituperations,” adding: “This is what they employed and engaged in before the 2019 election which led to their crushing defeat.”
“Instead of concentrating on the disaster presently ravaging their party and praying to God to just survive as a going entity after the 2023 elections, we are confronted by such irresponsible statement,” he added.
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment added that Tinubu was a thoroughbred democrat and one of the major architects of the democracy the PDP and Nigerians enjoyed today.
“He should be the very last of the presidential candidates to be accused of undemocratic conduct or underhand dealings in the electoral process.
“These same characters who issued the statement were behind the poor showing of the PDP in 2019.
“They are doing the same thing the same way again and expect a different result. With a disjointed party, divided governors and a comatose campaign, the PDP should realise the game is up. They are already finding excuses for their defeat,” he said.
Keyamo asked PDP to tender its unreserved apology to Tinubu for the comments.
