Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, APC Presidential Candidate
…PDP PCC alleges Tinubu plot to disrupt elections over divisive comments
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu has disclosed that he is ahead of those planning to scuttle the February 25 election with the hoarding of the new naira notes and scarcity of fuel across the country.
Tinubu who spoke on Friday in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti state capital during the APC presidential campaign rally alleged that the unnamed individuals in the corridor of power were planning to create atmosphere of instability, postponed the presidential election and impose interim national government.
He reiterated his earlier position that it is the turn of Yoruba to produce the president of the country, saying “this election is yours. It is the election you will use to liberate yourselves.”
The APC standard bearer who spoke in Yoruba at the rally declared that, “those who kept the new currencies in their vaults would eventually release them” urging long suffering Nigerians not to fall for the ploy to provoke them to take to violence and anarchy over the scarcity of the redesigned currencies.
Tinubu also slammed suspected saboteurs who are allegedly hoarding Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and preventing eligible voters from collecting them, urged those yet to collect their cards to “continue to be on the neck of those holding on to your cards until they release them to you.”
He urged the electorate to vote for all APC candidates in the February 25 National Assembly elections and March 11 governorship and House of Assembly elections, “because the party offers a platform for good governance and responsible leadership.”
He said, “They locked up money. Trek to your polling units, vote and stay with your vote.
“I use God to beg you, this matter is not fight, don’t fight them. Those who locked up your money will eventually unlock it. They’re doing it to get you angry, so that you can become violent, and they will postpone the election to bring interim government. We are wiser than them and equally ahead of them. The rat that eats poison will kill itself.”
Earlier, Governor Biodun Oyebanji urged the people of the state to vote massively for APC and Tinubu to reciprocate his good deeds and love for Ekiti in the years past.
He said: “All of us have decided to vote for Asiwaju and there is no cause for alarm. Ekiti people, you have all decided to give your votes to Asiwaju and the ballot boxes will be full with votes for him because he has always stood by us and we are going to appreciate him with our votes on February 25.
“Let’s go back to our wards, homes, churches, mosques, markets and other places to spread the gospel of Asiwaju to the electorate. Tell your people to collect their PVCs, those who are still without their PVCs don’t love Asiwaju.
“Asiwaju’s votes is our votes and we must all join hands to ensure his victory. Let us elect all APC candidates for Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly with our votes.”
Former governor Fayemi said Tinubu had stood by Ekiti when the progressives were in the trenches, urging the people of the state to reciprocate the good gestures of the APC presidential candidate at the polls.
Also, the Senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District, Opeyemi Bamidele, expressed confidence that Ekiti electorate would vote massively for Tinubu based on his unmatched track records in governance and the country as a whole.
However, the Atiku-Okowa Campaign Organisation has alleged that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, plans to “incite Nigerians, cause insurrection and disrupt the 2023 general elections”.
To achieve this, the campaign team claimed, Tinubu had been sending his campaign officials to unleash hate speech against prominent leaders in the north and other parts of the country.
It said having been rejected by Nigerians, Tinubu has now “resorted to statements including deploying top members of his campaign, including a serving governor, to insult and condemn prominent Nigerian leaders as an alleged ploy to trigger crisis in the polity”.
The allegations were contained in a statement by the PDP PCC spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Friday.
“Our Campaign invites Nigerians to note how notable arrowheads and supporters of the Tinubu-Shettima campaign have been moving around various media houses to spew hate speeches and promote blackmailing narratives apparently with the view to undermining our national unity and derailing the electoral process.
“Such top officials of the Tinubu campaign are also reportedly instructed to attack peaceful and well-meaning Nigerians, issue threats, incite mob actions, promote riots and violence in various parts of the country in furtherance of Tinubu’s unrelenting incitement to his followers to deploy violence, fight and snatch power by all means in the 2023 general elections.
“Nigerians can still recall how Tinubu recently in London accusingly declared to his followers that political power is not going to be served in a restaurant; it is not served a la carte. It is what we are doing; it is being determined; you do it at all costs; fight for it, grab it, snatch it and run with it.”
It added, “The APC presidential candidate is desperately seeking to cause anarchy, mayhem, bloodletting, violence and a forcible overthrow of Nigeria’s democratic system not minding the lives and safety of millions of Nigerians.
“It is clear that Tinubu is pathetically being driven by an entitlement mentality, and as such, he does not care about the unity of the country adding that in any case, Tinubu had since announced that he does not believe in Nigeria as a nation.
“It is however pitiable that a two-term governor, who has been spewing divisive insults on the leaders of our nation, can make himself a willing tool just because of personal aggrandizement.
“Tinubu and his co-travelers must come to terms with the reality that Nigerians across ethnic, religious and political divides have made up their minds to elect the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, as the next president and not even their predilections to violence, hate speech and blackmail can detract from this resolve.”
Comment here