Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports.
Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and ex-governor of Edo State, has stated that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the party’s presidential candidate, cannot be held accountable for the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. Yesterday, Oshiomhole appeared on Arise News Channel’s “The Morning Show,” the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers.
Oshiomhole’s statement came as The Atiku Mobilisers Ekiti (TAME), a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) group rallying support for its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said yesterday that the country’s terrifying insecurity and poor economic standing had rendered Tinubu unmarketable in the eyes of Nigerians.
However, Oshiomhole, a former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), stated that Tinubu should not be held responsible for Buhari’s performance because the former Lagos State governor played no role in governance at any level during the current federal administration. Holding Tinubu accountable for the current government’s performance, policies, and policy implementation, he said, would be unjust.
Speaking on the APC’s contentious choice of a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, the former APC national chairman urged Nigerians to focus on the country’s future. He stated that Nigeria’s problems transcend religion and that religion cannot be a source of contention in the country.
Oshiomhole believed that Nigerians should spend more time discussing the qualities of the presidential candidates, particularly their ability to do things differently in order to expect a different result.
“I believe these are the issues,” Oshiomhole said, “and given the current state of the economy and security, we should devote time to discussing such national issues.” “There is evidence that Nigeria was probably at its best when religion did not play a role during and after military rule,” he added.
Tinubu was defended by the former labor leader, who claimed that he has a Christian wife with whom he has been married for over 40 years and has never forced her to convert to his religion.
“Will having a Muslim-Muslim ticket affect freedom of worship?” If the answer is yes, we have a serious problem,” he explained. Christians and Muslims can currently worship freely, so why should anyone have a problem?”
Oshiomhole accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of mismanaging the country, claiming that after their defeat, there was open debate and banner headlines in newspapers about PDP leaders considering changing the party’s name.
He emphasized that Buhari inherited a terrible economic situation, but that progress has been made in many areas, despite the emergence of new challenges, some of which are external to the country.
Speaking on the country’s security situation, Oshiomhole stated that due to the quadrupling of the Nigerian population and current global and domestic challenges, the size of the armed forces should be doubled. He also asked for a review of the security architecture.
Oshiomhole said, “I do not understand why we should have separate outfits for civil defence corps and the Federal Road Safety Corps. I have travelled to many countries, and I have not seen the multiplicity of agencies.
“I believe that given the level of able young men and women, there are a lot of Nigerians who can be of help, if properly employed.”
He emphasised that everything he said was his own views and not that of APC.
Buhari’s Failure in Security, Economy Make Tinubu Unmarketable, Says Atiku Group
Meanwhile, TAME boasted that its presidential candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, would garner over 60 per cent of the votes in Ekiti State in the 2023 general election.
The group warned APC against being carried away by the euphoria of victory recorded in the June 18 governorship poll in the Ekiti State. It said the insecurity and state of the economy had left Tinubu without qualities that could attract the votes of Nigerians.
The group mocked the President Muhammadu Buhari government for failing in the critical areas of security and economy.
Chairman of TAME and ex-Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Sikiru Lawal, who spoke yesterday in Ado-Ekiti during a meeting of TAME’s local government coordinators, urged all PDP groups to coalesce for the actualisation of Atiku’s presidency.
Lawal said, “We have coordinators in all the 177 wards and we will soon appoint the coordinators across 2,445 units to galvanise support for our candidate. We did poorly in the governorship election in Ekiti because the PDP preparation was poor. But we are going to win Ekiti election for the presidency.
“We have realised our mistakes and the result was as a result of internal wrangling. We are working hard at the unit and ward levels. We will salvage the situation.
“There is no party without rancour, we are going to come together.
“The unemployment, insecurity and the bad state of the economy have made Asiwaju Tinubu unsellable to Nigerians.
“We are going to change the “change”, because the APC change has brought hardship and bloodshed to Nigerians. PDP is targeting 60 per cent of the votes cast in Ekiti because the Nigerian citizens are tired of the APC-led government and they are ready to vote them out.”
Lawal said Atiku would be easy to market because he had a well-encapsulated agenda, competence, as well as mental capacity to transform the country and, particularly, rescue the populace from the current stranglehold of insecurity.
He stated, “Nobody is happy with the current situation. Is it about youth unemployment, inflation, inability to buy ordinary bread, petrol and diesel. I’m sure that even the APC and Labour Party members will vote for Atiku in this coming election.
“To us in this group, we are urging Nigerians to wait and vote the APC out, rather than impeachment process against the president because the impeachment kite might be a game plan.”
Hon. Kola Oluwawole, former Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, stated that TAME would mobilize support for Atiku across the state’s 2,445 units and 16 local government areas using the human resources available in the Ekiti PDP and other parties.
