THE NATION
- Go and plan for 2027, former APC spokesman mocks ex-VP
- Omokri to PDP: ‘We have reached end of our ropes’
- PDP flag bearer desperate for Muslim-Muslim ticket with MKO
Former Deputy National Publicity of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Yekeni Nabena, yesterday told the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, that his heating the polity over pre-election matters will not make him President.
Nabena said Atiku shoud rather “start preparing for another election in 2027 as usual.”
The APC was reacting to Atiku’s Thursday press conference during which the former VP sought to discredit the Chicago State University certificate of President Bola Tinubu.
A PDP member, Reno Omokri, said the party’s insistence on pursuing the CSU certificate issue smacked of desperation.
“If not for desperation, why would the great PDP that produced Presidents Obasanjo, Yar’adua and Jonathan even consider clutching at such weak straws?” he said in an open letter to the party.
A group, Muslim Media Watch, said Atiku’s moves depict him as one too desperate to rule Nigeria.
Nabena, in his statement in Abuja, said: “Atiku Abubakar should know by now that Nigerians have moved on. The country is now enjoying good governance because this administration is responsive and responsible.
”See what is happening across Ministries, Departments and Agencies; Nigerians will no longer wait for months to get their international passport when they apply. Over 204,000 backlog has been cleared within three weeks.
“Think about the welfare packages for the elderly by the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry, the bold step to remove the fuel subsidy that has held the country hostage for a long time, government intervention in all sectors like Aviation, Health, Transport, Economy, Agriculture and security among others.
“This Renewed Hope Agenda is already working and Nigerians won’t allow anyone, including Atiku or Peter Obi, to drag the nation back to the desert.”
Continuing, Nabena said: “The registrar of Chicago State University (CSU) Caleb Westberb never said President Tinubu forged the certificate he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Nigeria
“Nigeria is a sovereign state, and until the highest court of the land says otherwise, President Bola Tinubu is still legitimately elected and will continue to pilot the affairs of the country.”
Why PDP pinning all its hope is wrong –Omokri
The former media aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan said: “It has been said that a person’s worst enemy is the individual who feeds their weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
“The 2023 election is over. Peter Obi defeated us, not Bola Tinubu.
“By contesting in an election he knew he could not win, Peter Obi stole away votes that would naturally have come to the Peoples Democratic Party (the Southeast has always voted PDP since 1999. Only 2023 was an exception).
“That is why we lost. As a true friend of the Peoples Democratic Party, I told Peter Obi this before the election.
“I also said the same thing to Waziri Atiku Abubakar. I said if we did not find a way to convince Peter Obi not to run, then we would have to take him on head-on because there was not enough space for both him and Waziri Atiku on the plinth of victory.
“But that is now history. The fact of the matter is that the current trajectory of our party is very and eerily similar to the election denial that prevailed in the Republican Party after the 2020 election.
“Pinning all our hopes on a smoking gun from Chicago State University that failed to manifest shows that we have reached the end of our ropes. Let us face the truth. AriseTV and other irresponsible media got our hopes up unnecessarily.