The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition All Progressives
Congress (APC) have again picked up the gauntlet over the allegation by the PDP
Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO) that a former governor of Lagos
State, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, “plans to replace the vice-presidential
candidate of the APC, Professor Yemi Osinbajo in the unlikely event that the
APC wins the March 28 presidential election,” after six months.
This is just as the ruling party insisted that there was, indeed, a plan
to supplant the presidential candidate of the APC, General Muhammadu Buhari and
his running mate if the party wins the election, to enable “Tinubu to come to
power through the back door.”
The PDPPCO, in a statement on Saturday signed by the Director of Media
and Publicity, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, insisted that the former Lagos Governor
could not defend himself on the charge.
But the APC denied the claim that Osinbajo would resign as the
vice-president for Tinubu to step in, noting the claim was designed to divert
attention from the runaway success of Buhari at the Chatham House in London,
last Thursday.
In a statement issued from London by its spokesperson, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, the APC said: ‘’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,” the APC maintained.
But the PDPPCO spokesman pooh-poohed the defence put up by Mohammed on
the matter, describing it as feeble and untenable, saying: “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?
“We are not surprised by the denials of the APC in this matter. They are
and will always be a party that is built on lies and that is headed by liars.
The APC is now throwing stones and hurling baseless allegations and insults at
our president, our leaders and our party. They forget that those who live in
glass houses should not throw stones.
However, APC said the PDP’s claim was the latest in a series of
desperate moves by the PDP and the Jonathan administration since Buhari emerged
as the APC’s presidential candidate, and the clearest indication yet that they
had no answer to the unstoppable momentum of a man of history.
‘’They have thrown everything imaginable at Gen. Buhari, but he has
continued to wax stronger and stronger: They said he was not qualified, that he
was too old, then they fabricated a medical report of an illness of their own
choice, sponsored death wish adverts against him and instituted a myriad of
court cases to stop him.
‘’After they failed to stop him, they went after the election itself,
using the PVCs as a tool to launch a campaign for postponement and, when they
realised that would not work, came up with the bogey of insecurity in the
North-east to force a postponement of the election, hoping they can buy enough
time to revive their electoral misfortune.
But the PDP, in its reaction, said: “We stand by our claims and the only
thing that is outlandish in this matter is the bizarre and insatiable lust for
power of the APC and those that are premising their presidential ambition on
someone else’s demise.
“Such morbid projections have no place in any civilised society. The
truth is that the APC is a party that is used to sordid, bizarre, byzantine and
subterranean back-room deals where people take blood-chilling and cultic oaths
and in which people are asked to sign perjurous and illegal letters of
resignation even before they are elected into office. If anyone doubts that
they should ask Pastor Tunde Bakare who was asked to sign a letter of
resignation by both Tinubu and Buhari in 2011 even when he had not been elected
to the exalted position of vice-president. We stand by our claim and we warn
the APC and their leaders to stop playing Russian roulette with the destiny of
the Nigerian people. We also counsel them to stop playing voodoo politics. They
can be rest assured that any arrangement or back room deal that is outside the
democratic process and that is outside the will of the Nigerian people will be
resisted. They must not throw our country into yet another round of crisis,
turmoil, instability and uncertainty by entering into and attempting to enforce
any sordid and unacceptable resignation pact which is designed to eventually
usher in Bola Tinubu as president,” the PDP stated.
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