The presidential candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP are at each other’s jugular, raking up dirt of the past as the premise for the disqualification of each other respectively in what political pundits confirmed as a major sign that the two candidates, Atiku Abubakar and Bola Ahmed Tinubu of PDP and APC respectively are on the verge of losing election values in the forthcoming presidential election on February 25, 2023
By Udoka Ekeleme
For the spin doctors of the presidential Candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the revelation credited to one Michael Achumogu, allegedly the former aide to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is the needed tool to erroneously nail the political coffin of the PDP presidential candidate in the forthcoming presidential election, according to political pundits.
Information at the disposal of this medium revealed that the intrigues trailing the race for the 2023 presidency has taken a dangerous twist as the presidential candidates of the two major political parties, APC and PDP are throwing mud on each other on the matter that borders on infractions that are capable to disqualify both candidates as the day of going to the presidential poll is weeks away. APC Presidential Campaign Council, is the first to draw the blood when relying on the yet to be verified information provided by Achumogu went to town to call on the anti-graft agencies and the security operatives to interrogate the Presidential candidate of PDP and subsequently disqualify him from the race.
In well attended press conference held on Monday, January 16, 2023 in Abuja at the instance of the APC PCC, the Presidential Campaign spokesperson of APC, Mr. Festus Keyamo, SAN said that based on the “Concerned Nigerian” he is giving 72-hour ultimatum to the anti-graft agencies to arrest or invite, interrogate and prosecute the presidential candidate of PDP, failing which he has no option than to approach the courts to compel the agencies to act. He insisted that Atiku does not enjoy immunity simply because he is a presidential candidate, asking the former Vice President to apologise and renounce his presidential ambition.
Keyamo averred that Atiku is not God and does not enjoy immunity from criminal prosecution, and urged security agencies not to be foot-dragging in arresting him because he is vying for president. According to him, former Plateau State governor, Joshua Dariye was jailed for the offences of paying state money into a company, Marine Float linked to Atiku, insisting that the former Vice President must be arrested. Tinubu via its spin doctors questioned the sources of wealth of both former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Atiku, especially with regards to building their individual private universities. On whether Obasanjo should equally be arrested, Tinubu’s spin doctors replied that the onus was on the security operatives to open investigations into the issues and arrest anyone found wanting, no matter how highly placed.
According to the spin doctors of Tinubu, the alleged offences of Atiku are a Breach of the Code of Conduct Act, Money Laundering,, Criminal Breach of Trust and Conspiracy which they said might have gone against the provision of Sections 5, 10, 13 and 17 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act; Section 18(2) of the Money Laundering Prevention And Prohibition Act 2022, Section 311 of the Penal Code Law and Section 96(1) of the Penal Code Act in Nigeria.
“The issue of the Marine Float Account is not new to Nigerians. In the voice note, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar can be heard boasting that the issue of that account was thoroughly investigated by EFCC. However, we note that in 2006, at the height of his public quarrel with Obasanjo, the same PDP officially asked Atiku Abubakar to refund N500 million taken from that account.
“In the circumstance, since the nation knows that the Marine Float Account and other similar accounts were ‘SPV’ accounts, it follows that all payments made into that account were monies stolen from public coffers. Therefore, we call on all security agencies to recover all monies withdrawn from that account by anyone for that matter.
“In the light of these very grave revelations, we call on Atiku Abubakar to immediately tender an unreserved apology to the Nigerian people and step down from the Presidential race forthwith, whilst handing over himself to the law enforcement agencies”, Tinubu through his spin doctors offered.
In the same vein, at his campaign in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State on Tuesday January 17, 2023,Tinubu urged the electorate not to vote for Atiku because he is going to sell Nigeria to shady partners if he wins the presidential election. He said, “The PDP candidate in the race is well known for selling everything that has the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s name on it. If it is part of the public treasure or national patrimony, he is looking to pawn it to one of his shady partners. He wants to sell off your chance at decent jobs, good schools, a nice home and a happy life. His aim is to sell and turn our public assets into his private profit. He wants you to go hungry so that he can feast off the abundance of the land”.
Reacting to the allegation leveled against its presidential candidate, PDP through its own image makers said that Tinubu, the former governor of Lagos State lacks the moral rectitude to accuse anybody of corruption when in reality he is the father of corruption. The Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Council has called on the security agencies to arrest Tinubu for felony for the formation of a uniformed gang of thugs code named “Jagaban Army” for the sole purpose of committing electoral heist.
One of the spokesperson of PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Kola Olagbodiyan in a statement made available to this medium described the formation of uniformed squad by the ruling APC code named Jagaban Army as a treasonable act and called for the arrest and questioning of the APC Presidential Candidate, Senator Tinubu. He said that the Jagaban Army , which is apparently set up to disrupt the 2023 general elections and raid the polling units for vote on behalf of APC Presidential Candidate, Tinubu is a direct affront to the Nigeria Armed Forces and other security agencies as well as an assault on the sovereignty of the nation.
“It is reprehensible that Tinubu can create a rogue force just for the purposes of undermining the electoral and security arrangements of our nation. Our Campaign holds that this nefarious act of APC Tinubu /Shettima Campaign lend credence to the position of the PDP and well meaning Nigerians that Tinubu as well as his rank and file have set out to make our nation ungovernable and thereafter disrupt the 2023 Presidential election scheduled for February 25 , 2023, using his army Jagabandist.
“The notion of Jagaban Army is a ploy to bring hoodlums, thugs and gangsters together under the cover of the APC and turned them into official militia that would be used to unleash mayhem on the day of election. We call on the security agencies to save the lives of Nigerians and protect our electoral process by immediately going after this dangerous formation, arrest those behind this design and save our nation from electoral violence”
In like manner, the PDP dismissed Tinubu’s calls and allegations against Atiku as “simulated allegations” and attempts to divert public attention from the issues affecting Nigeria as a nation. The National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Mr. Debo Ologunagba in a statement made available to this medium said that “It is indeed ironic that an embattled Tinubu, who is beleaguered by unaccountable cases of fraudulent activities, including perjury, forgery, treasury looting, corruption and narcotic-related conviction can attempt to impugn on the unimpeachable integrity of the PDP Presidential Candidate.
“In contrast, however, the APC Presidential Candidate has litany of confirmed legal impediments on very grave issues including those that bother on international crime, namely, trafficking in narcotics and taking proceeds of narcotics. In the recent case revealed in the United States of America, it is on record that the APC Presidential Candidate forfeited the sum of S460, 000 which was confirmed and found to be proceeds of trafficking in narcotics; an international Crime for which Nigeria, being a signatory to International Convention on trafficking on narcotics is obliged to enforce.
“The effect of the conviction and forfeiture of the sum of S460, 000 by Asiwaju Tinubu confirms that he is ineligible and not qualified to contest for the office of the President of Nigeria as required by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended”
One of the spokesperson of the PDP Presidential Campaign Counil, Charles Aniagwu who is the Commissioner for Information in Delta State said that a vote for Tinubu is a vote to impoverish the populace because the former governor of Lagos is known for making people slave. According to him, “As a campaign organization, we are urging Nigerians not to make a mistake of submitting themselves to internal slavery by the APC whose candidate had since captured Lagos State for the past 23 years and still counting, and he is planning on how to expand his territorial control beyond Lagos to control the entire country”.
