From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has described the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as squanderers and an unserious party.
He also wondered how the opposition party failed to understand that Nigerians have since dismissed it as an unserious and broken opposition party.
In a statement signed by the Director of Public Affairs and spokesperson, Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), FestusKeyamo, the APC candidate insisted that the opposition party lacks the rectitude to a crisis his action plan having failed Nigerians in the past.
Reacting to PDP’s attempt to criticise his action plan through a press release signed by Dele Momodu, the ruling party’s PCC claimed that a party without a track record cannot criticise it.
Titled ‘PDP’s juvenile critique of APC’s Action Plan, Renewed Hope’, the statement from the APC PCC read; “It appears the PDP is unaware that Nigerians have since dismissed it as an unserious and broken opposition party. If nothing at all, its latest press release signed by Momodu attests to its crass unseriousness.
“The PDP’s attempt to pooh-pooh our Action Plan only ended up as nothing but a joke. Even more pathetic and disastrous is the situation Momodu has found himself today. That is, having to stage a complete somersault in a cheap hatchet job against our highly revered candidate, Bola Tinubu, simply because he needed to impress his new paymasters.
“What is obvious is that even the hirelings of the PDP like Momodu are clear believers in Asiwaju’s ability and capacity to deliver on his promises but have decided to play politics this time around.
“Our expectation is that our Action Plan would inspire other political parties, especially the intellectually bankrupt PDP, to engage us constructively on the initiatives and programmes we intend to implement. True to type, PDP has again reacted, in our view, without even reading the content of the document.
“All they are interested in is the title of our message, not the quality of our ideas. We are extremely amused, but not entirely shocked. This only demonstrates once again their incurable incapacity to act as a credible opposition to the ruling party,” the PCC noted in the statement.
Reacting further, APC noted that; “of course, track records should be critical in evaluating any party or candidate. If we may ask Momodu, what are your party’s track records? When the country had substantial receipts from crude oil export, your party squandered it all. PDP represent what the Yoruba proverbially call “Arungun” (squanderer).
“They promised the people of South-East Second Niger Bridge for 16 years, yet, nothing was built. Today, thanks to President Buhari of APC, the Second Niger Bridge is completed. At a time, a former spokesperson of your government said Nigeria couldn’t afford train coaches, much less rail lines.
“Today, we have Lagos – Ibadan, Itakpe – Warri rail lines. Even in the face of dwindling resources and global economic challenges, we have lifted millions of Nigerians out of poverty with our National Social Investment Programs, widely acclaimed as the first in Africa in scale and innovation.
“Our efforts in power generation and distribution is yielding good results, unlike the $16 billion squandered by PDP under Obasanjo under the guise of power projects with nothing to show for it. Pledges made by PDP governments are redeemed by our party. Pensions and other entitlements of workers in PDP’s failed privatisation scam have been paid up to date.
“On the contrary, the five-point agenda of the flag bearer of the PDP is nothing to write home about. Top on the list is his lip service to unify Nigeria. We can only laugh. This is a man whose party is torn between division and disarray. Till now, he is yet to fix it. What a failure! His 74-page campaign document has in it ongoing milestones of the President Buhari-led administration.
“From lifting millions out of poverty to power generation to economic revitalization, it is clear that they are either too lazy to think or bereft of fresh ideas. Everywhere Atiku went, he was never caught speaking to issues of governance. Rather, if he is not promising the Igbo Presidency in 2027, he is playing the ethnic card (like in Kaduna). Nigerians are wise, they know he has nothing to offer,” the statement read.