The All Progressives Congress (APC) has again justified the decision of its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to shun the town hall debate organized by Arise TV and the Center for Democracy and Development (CDD) on Sunday.
The party in a statement on Monday through the Director, Media & Publicity of its Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Bayo Onanuga said the town hall debate was poorly organized.
He also carpeted the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for making a big deal out of the decision of Tinubu not to attend the debate or send a representative.
The APC chieftain described both the Labour Party and the PDP as confused parties for also ‘attacking’ Tinubu over his failure to attend the debate.
Onanuga pointed out that the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar didn’t attend the debate as well but was represented by his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa but the party’s campaign council still went ahead to call out Tinbu on the same issue.
He said: “We read with amusement the ridiculous position of Atiku/Okowa Campaign Council and that of Labour Party/Peter Obi on the absence of our presidential candidate, Asíwájú Bola Ahmed Tinubu, from the poorly organized Town Hall debate session by Arise TV.
The separate press releases from these two dead-on-arrival presidential campaign offices sought to make an issue out of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s well-thought-out decision to follow his own campaign plan.
The more absurd of the two positions was the one canvassed by the spokesperson of Atiku/Okowa campaign. The PDP Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar didn’t also attend Arise News Town Hall Meeting.”
Atiku Got The Cold Shoulder In America
Onanuga alleged that Atiku and his team were not warmly received during their last visit to the United States of America and that is part of what the PDP should be worrying about ahead of the elections.
He said the PDP spokesperson is jobless and trying to divert attention away from the already-failed ambition of his principal by using Tinubu’s name to grab media attention.
He wrote: “Yet his (Atiku) spokesman, out of joblessness and lack of productive venture attacked our candidate, perhaps in pursuit of a media mileage that their campaign badly needs to divert attention from their failing presidential bid.
We believe that even a palace jester should have a moment of self-introspection. If this had been done, the statement would have been unnecessary.
Instead of PDP to tell Nigerians why its presidential candidate has not returned to Nigeria after their purposeless visit to United States where he and his other 15 peripatetic adults were given a cold shoulder by US senior officials, the spokesperson is busy chasing shadows.”
We Won’t Be Intimated Into Attending Debates
The APC campaign spokesperson added that Tinubu will not be coerced by the PDP and LP into attending public debates.
He said Tinubu and his running mate have a campaign schedule they are following and don’t have the time to waste on frivolities just as Festus Keyamo earlier explained.
“We want to state again for the attention of both PDP and LP, that Asiwaju Tinubu will not be railroaded into media appearances and debates.
Asiwaju Tinubu and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima have their campaign schedule that they are following and they have been holding conversations with Nigerians at Town Hall meetings and other fora.
The Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council has clearly made its position on debates known in a statement issued by our Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Festus Keyamo, SAN and that position remains.
We recognize that both PDP and LP have to use Asiwaju Tinubu’s name with the hope that their floundering campaign will gain some traction. Nigerians witnessed the show of shame and despicable exchange on live television between, Mr. Peter Obi, the candidate of LP and Dino Melaye, one of Atiku-Okowa’s palace jesters. Nigerians will certainly not vote for candidates and political parties that cannot maintain decorum and basic decency on national television,” he said.
