SAN FRANCISCO, October 08, (THEWILL) – The All Progressives Congress (APC) says it congratulates Atiku Abubakar on his election as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 2019 presidential candidate. It said its message is in keeping with our belief in participatory democracy and the electorate’s right to freely choose from candidates in any political contest.
Spokesman of the party, Yekini Nabena in a statement said: “However, in assessing candidates to be voted for during elections, Nigerians will normally consider the candidate’s background and antecedents. The pertinent question to ask about Atiku is what his scorecard in public office was? Regrettably, Atiku’s scorecard is abysmally low and he has proven to be an untrustworthy and unreliable character. A case in point is Atiku’s revealing altercation with his former boss President Olusegun Obasanjo which exposed the level of corruption Atiku was enmeshed in.
In the international level, Atiku has been reportedly place on the global watch list of the United States of America and has avoided travelling to the US to avoid arrest and prosecution over a money-laundering and corruption case in that country.
Really, is this the character and antecedent of a candidate Nigerians will be proud to vote for as our President, come 2019?
Compared and contrasted with President Muhammadu Buhari consistent and principled stance on party affiliations, since 1999, Atiku has moved around different political parties – PDP, ACN, PDP, APC and now PDP, all in his blind and desperate pursuit of his ambition – The Presidency of Nigeria. It is therefore very clear that if Atiku loses the presidential election in 2019, he will again defect from the PDP to another political platform.
Atiku is known as a super rich Nigerian who entrenched the undemocratic practice of buying votes of delegates. During the APC National Convention in 2014, he spent several millions of dollars to buy delegates votes and emerged third, after Buhari and Rabiu Kwankwaso. On Sunday, he reportedly bought over virtually all the PDP delegates and was declared winner of the PDP presidential primaries. With these huge expenses expended to secure the PDP ticket, how will Atiku recoup his “investment” if not from the public treasury should he win the Presidency?
Our dear President Muhammadu Buhari does not spend a kobo on delegates as he banks only on his proven personal integrity. In any case how did a retired Customs Officer acquire so much wealth to fund his several presidential bids? The source of his wealth is very questionable and his financial resources are definitely ill gotten.
Nigerians have had enough of corrupt, cash and carry politicians. That was why in 2015 they came out enmasse and elected a clean and transparent man in Muhammadu Buhari to clean the Augean stable. The candidature of Atiku Abubakar will bring back the undesired lots and their practices which Nigerians have long rejected and forgotten.
The Nigerian electorate deserves to be given a choice of decency, integrity and honour and not dirt, corruption, and infamy. The choice between Buhari and Atiku is one between light and darkness; between positive change and business as usual; between transparency and under the table dealings.
As we prepare for the forthcoming 2019 elections, one thing is clear. If the choice is between a presidential candidate/change agent who is rebuilding the country and refocusing our national priorities and attitudes on one hand, and another candidate who along with his gang of co-looters stole the country’s commonwealth and brought the country to its knees, that choice has already been made by the Nigerian electorate.
PDP Responds via a statement by spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan
National Convention: PDP Dismisses APC’s Vote-Buying Allegation
…Says Spurious Allegations Will Not Help Buhari
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) notes the uneasiness, apprehension and nervousness in the drowning Buhari Presidency and the fading All Progressives Congress (APC) since the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as Presidential candidate of the PDP.
The PDP said such nervousness in the deflated party has led to a renewed attempt at smear campaign with spurious allegations against our Presidential candidate; a defeatist approach that shows that the APC and the Buhari Presidency are afraid of the Atiku candidacy and have reached their wits end, well ahead of the elections.
The claims, by APC, of vote-buying at our national convention, is therefore, not only false but completely unfounded and symptomatic of a party that has totally lost bearing and now engaged in rumour mongering.
However, for us as a party, such allegation from the APC is not unexpected given that it had tried everything possible to scuttle our national convention and Presidential primary but woefully failed, hence the desperation to engage in attempt to discredit the process that has been acclaimed as the beat in our political history.
Unlike the APC that has an unpopular Presidential candidate, who has failed in governance, foisted on it without an election, the whole world watched with excitement as 12 aspirants contested the PDP Presidential primary, where delegates drawn from respected Nigerians across the country, freely voted for a candidate of their choice.
To the amusement of Nigerians, the APC conducted a non-contested convention in which it declared President Buhari as “winner” with over 14 million fictitious votes.
In their desperation, they forgot that “Winning” as a word connotes contest.
Strangely, the APC declared a candidate as having won when there was never a contest – a charade by a deceptive party with duplicitous leaders!
While we note that the APC is suffering from a pre-defeat trauma, we caution this fading party and its presidential candidate, who had failed our nation, to steer clear of our party and get ready for issue-based campaign ahead of the 2019 elections.
It is instructive to state that their attempt at smear campaign against our candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, will fail as Nigerians are interested only in the candidate that can make a turn around of the ugly situation Buhari Presidency has sunk us.
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