The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday rolled out its governors in a concerted attack on the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), warning among others that Buhari planned to serve only one term and derail rotation between North and South. The PDP governors, who converged on Lagos from their respective states, dismissed Buhari’s reputation as an anti-corruption crusader, affirming him as a willing collaborator in the human rights and financial abuses that characterised the Sani Abacha era. A mother carries banner to drum support for the leading opposition All Progressives Congress presidential candidate Mohammadu Buhari and running mate Yemi Osinbajo during a rally christened ‘Walk for Change” in Lagos, on March 7, 2015 in Lagos. AFP PHOTO The governors, who took turns during an interactive session with civil society groups, used the opportunity to honour some martyrs of Nigeria’s democracy, including Chief Moshood Abiola, Kudirat Abiola and Shehu Musa Yar‘Adua. The governors also expressed strong reservations on the use of the card readers as they warned that no single individual should be left out of voting on account of what they described as poor performance of the card readers. The governors also cited what they claimed as insurgency provoking poverty in APC states as evidence of the poverty of ideas in the opposition political party which they flayed for thriving only on propaganda. Roll call Present at yesterday’s meeting were Governors Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Jonah Jang (Plateau), Ayo Fayose (Ekiti), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), Usman Dakingari (Kebbi), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Babangida Aliyu (Niger) and Bala Ngilari (Adamawa). Also present were the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim; Ministers of Agriculture and Power, Dr. Akinwunmi Adeshina and Professor Chinedu Nebo, respectively. On Buhari’s alleged one-term controversy Governor Aliyu cautioned against voting for Buhari on the ground that he would only serve for four years and consequently cause power shift back to the South in 2019. Governor Aliyu also had in the recent past stirred controversy for alleging that President Jonathan himself signed an agreement to serve for one term. Governor Aliyu said: “Buhari promised us that he is going to do one term. The implication of that would result in the short-changing of rotational presidency when it gets to the turn of the North. Even as a young man, Buhari was not a good administrator. He allowed his subordinates to steal the show.” It’s a tale by PDP to create disaffection—APC His assertions were immediately dismissed by APC spokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who described it as a tale created by the PDP to divide one section of the country against the other. Mohammed said: “The APC will not abridge the right of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to spend the constitutionally-guaranteed two terms as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria if elected in the March 28 poll. “No conditionality, whatsoever, was attached to Gen. Buhari’s candidacy. He won the party primaries fair and square in a globally-acclaimed transparent manner, and he was neither a compromise nor a consensus candidate, hence there is no need for him to make a deal with anyone. “We are, therefore, telling Nigerians to disregard the tales by the moonlight which some PDP elements are spinning in their desperation to muddle the waters ahead of the forthcoming elections and create disaffection between a section of the country and another.” Women sit in a branded bus station as they support leading opposition All Progressives Congress presidential candidate Mohammadu Buhari during a rally christened ‘Walk for Change” in Lagos, on March 7, 2015 in Lagos. AFP PHOTO APC said it had ignored the myth all along because it was being peddled by fringe elements in the PDP, but decided to put the record straight once and for all after those who were thought to be saner elements in the ruling party started parroting the same incredulous lies. He said: “This myth that Buhari will spend one term, after which power will return to the South-West, is along the same line as the outlandish claim that our Vice Presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has sworn to an oath to resign in favour of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu once elected. “The question to ask is: When will the PDP stop this campaign of calumny and character assassination against our candidates and leaders? When will they stop this one-day, one-lie nonsense? “The truth is that Gen. Buhari’s candidacy has brought out the worst in the PDP leadership and supporters, including Mr. President and his wife. Unfortunately for them, the more they campaign against our candidate, the more popular he becomes. “Perhaps, the PDP would have stood a better chance of winning the forthcoming polls if its state governors, in particular, have devoted as much time and energy to running their states as they have devoted to maligning Gen. Buhari.” Govs pay homage to Abiola, Kudirat The meeting of PDP governors with civil society and the media was heralded by meetings on Monday night where the governors took a decision to launch the blistering attack on the APC, its presidential candidate, and its leading lights. Opening the occasion yesterday, the PDP Governors Forum chairman, Akpabio courted civil society with a one-minute silence in memory of some of Nigeria’s slain pro-democracy activists. Acknowledging the sacrifices, he said: “Some distance away from here lie the bodies of that great patriot and democrat, Chief MKO Abiola and his wife, Kudirat. They died so that we could breathe the air of democracy.” Noting what he claimed as the PDP’s sterling role as the unifying body for Nigerians and the only party genuinely fighting corruption, he said: “But, we abhor the politicization of corruption by military veterans. “We know what Buhari did after he indicted our respected leaders like Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Dr Alex Ekwueme and others for corruption. These military veterans and their cohorts are today still trying to use the same old trick to hoodwink our people. “Today, General Buhari, like in 1983, is posing as an anti-corruption crusader, even when surrounded by people of questionable means, all in an effort to cajole the electorate ahead of the forthcoming election. Interestingly, the party that is parroting anti-corruption slogans epitomizes corruption in all its ramifications.” On Buhari’s age In a departure from Governor Fayose’s campaign that Buhari was too old, Akpabio said: “We are aware that some people have complained about the age of General Buhari. But we do not see anything wrong with his age if he thinks he can withstand the rigours of the job. “But, we are extremely concerned about the age of his ideas. We are concerned that a man who could not take charge when he was in his 40s but rather bequeathed, to historical infamy, a regime named after two people (Idiagbon/Buhari regime instead of one person as has always been the case) cannot take charge at 73 when his health would need constant monitoring. “We are concerned about the age of his ideas because 50 years after the first coup, hinged on fighting corruption, Buhari is still thinking of using the same subterfuge to deceive us today. We dare not allow anyone to use a 50-year-old trick to destroy our democratic values. We are wiser today.” A mother carries her child during a rally to drum support for the leading opposition All Progressives Congress presidential candidate Mohammadu Buhari during a rally christened ‘Walk for Change” in Lagos, on March 7, 2015, in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital. Presidential elections scheduled for February 14 were delayed for six weeks as the military said the ongoing counter-offensive against Islamists Boko Haram meant that troops could not provide security on polling day. AFP PHOTO On war against Boko Haram The governor also cited what he claimed as contradictory positions by the APC on the Boko Haram insurgency, saying the party has moved between accommodating the group and pushing for its extinction. “When the Federal Government was contemplating negotiating with the dreaded Boko Haram group, Boko Haram nominated Gen. Buhari as their chief negotiator. The APC is like the man who set his seat ablaze in the theatre, and ran out screaming, ‘fire, fire, fire.’ But God has intervened, and we are defeating Boko Haram. “Despite the antics of the opposition and others sympathetic to Boko Haram, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, and indeed the military have been able to rise to the occasion by decimating insurgents and restoring hope of a peaceful North-East in particular and Nigeria in general.” Faulting INEC’s preparations for the elections, Governor Akpabio warned that voters must not be deprived of their rights on account of what he described as the failures of the card readers. “We reassert that on no account should any registered voter be disenfranchised for non-possession of PVCs owing to no personal fault or rejection by faulty card readers.” On plot by 7 PDP govs to defect to APC Following him, Governor Aliyu of Niger State debunked insinuations by Governor Okorocha that some PDP governors were on the verge of defecting to the APC. “One of the APC governors reportedly said that seven PDP governors are in Lagos to negotiate joining the APC. Any of you conversant with the APC will know that it is not true. We understand that some of us have personal ambitions, have reasons to live, while those of us who are committed stayed in the PDP. I don’t see any reason now why I will join the APC through the back door when I had the chance to join through the front door. All they are doing is propaganda.” APC formed out of anger, envy —Lamido Also speaking, Governor Lamido said the APC was formed out of hate, envy and anger as he said that all the evils so condemned in the PDP were obtainable in the APC. He also flayed Buhari for keeping mute in the face of the onslaught against personal liberty and the common treasury by the Abacha regime. He said: “Under Abacha’s government that Buhari served, a lot of high profile murders took place and Buhari never spoke against them. Kudirat was killed, Rewane was assassinated.” He was also watching while our treasury was being looted. Buhari never said anything then.” Also speaking, Governor Mimiko praised the performance of the president whose qualification and doctoral degree he said could not be questioned. He said: “We can’t risk having a dictator because no matter how you re-brand a dictator, a dictator will remain a dictator. In the South-West, we have always called for devolution of power and true federalism. We are strong advocates of strong federating units. “For a very long time, nobody thought there will be a national conference, but President Jonathan made that possible. Irrespective of any division, those who represented the region were our best. For us in the South-West, Jonathan is the man that we will vote for. I want to encourage Nigerians to ensure that the President is re-elected.”
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