From Joe Effiong, Uyo
The Akwa Ibom People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has hit back at APC presidential candidate Alhaji Ahmed Tinubu over remarks aimed at Governor Udom Emmanuel while addressing his campaign rally at Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo on Monday.
Speaking partly in pidgin English, Tinubu had said: “Akwa Ibom, that boy wey bring Atiku here, wey dey call himself governor, tell him enough is enough! He lives in my backyard in Lagos. If no be say we be one I would have driven him home. You see that mansion he is living, I would just use lizards, pigeons and scorpions and put inside.“
Although Governor Emmanuel, while swearing in new permanent secretaries and transition committee members at Banquet Hall, Uyo, later that Monday, had said he wouldn’t want to respond to Tinubu’s diatribe, as one party must play a saint for peace to reign in Nigeria, the state chapter of PDP wouldn’t acquiesce to the assumed insult on the governor.
In a press release titled “Tinubu and His Non-Compos Mentis Remark on Governor Emmanuel”, assigned by its state publicity secretary, Mr Borono Bassey, the PDP said they had watched the campaign speech video by the “microphone-tasting” presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress – “Mr Bola Tinubu wherein he described our highly celebrated and revered Governor, His Excellency, Mr Udom Emmanuel as a ‘small boy who lives at his backyard in Lagos’ during his visit to Uyo Akwa Ibom State.”
The PDP said it is indeed sad that Nigerians, including Akwa Ibom people, have been forced to bear the excruciating pains of watching “a senile and entitled centenarian who should be serving a life sentence for his momentous indictment in a drug cartel’s dealings in the United States, which led to his forfeiture of $460,000 in 1993.”
“Today, hundreds of millions of Nigerians and even members of the international community hold the consensus opinion that the decision by this decrepit, staggering-old and baggage-laden man to put one of his entitled “leprous” foot on the same staircase which law-abiding, clean and morally upright Nigerians have stepped their foot on, to communicate their desire to ascend the Presidency of this nation, has completely desecrated the entire staircase, and therefore attracting ridicule to this nation.
“Little wonder, many chieftains of his party all over Nigeria who ordinarily should lead Tinubu campaigns from the front, have decided to stand on the right side of history by refusing to touch his leprous-laden ambition even with a ten-foot pole.
“We understand Mr Tinubu’s grief to have stepped into Akwa Ibom soil and to physically confirm with his eyes, the diverse imposing testimonials that speak eloquently of Governor Udom Emmanuel’s years of visionary stewardship to Akwa Ibom people thereby elevating Governor Emmanuel to the coveted pedestal of one of the top most celebrated governors in Nigeria at this time. We can also wager that the enticing altitude in which our state soars reminds him in a tragic manner, his failure to have forcefully snatched Akwa Ibom State in 2019 and annex it to the list of his failed hegemonies.”
“Our Party shares in the strong sentiments of Nigerians and Akwa Ibom people that the collective destinies of our people can never be handed over to a man whose actions, utterances and dispositions have sold him out as a non-compos mentis. Akwa Ibom people since the return of democratic rule have had a pact with the People’s Democratic Party and this pact, we are confident will stretch several years beyond 2023.
“We are energised and embolden by the growing resolve of Nigerians and all Akwa Ibom people to never allow the tragedy of Tinubu’s presidency fall on us this year or ever in our history as a Nation. We urge Mr Tinubu to clear his throat and sit and wait patiently for the “breakfast” of tears that Nigerians will serve him a few weeks from today.
“Ancestor Tinubu should rather take more time in taking lessons in the proper pronunciation of words and identification of people instead of creating a scene of one campaign, one gaffe. It is obvious that as an ancestor, Mr Tinubu has mistaken the presidential campaign of a country as big as Nigeria, to be a comedy show,” PDP thundered.