Saturday, February 28, 2015

Buhari, A Crawling Baby At 70 – Patience Jonathan


The First Lady, Patience Jonathan, has likened the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, to a crawling baby that has nothing to offer the nation.  She made the remark at the Benue State edition of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Women Campaign Rally held at IBB Square, Makurdi, on Friday.

According to her, a child that is still crawling at age 70 does not have anything new to offer anyone and indeed the people of Nigeria.  The First Lady said that the APC was trying to gain a foothold in the polity to no avail, even as she described the opposition as a sinking ship that would drown and remain under forever.

She also lampooned APC over its declaration that it would phase out the office of the first lady.

The President’s wife, who appreciated the women of Benue State for their support, said that she perceives and have seen it that Benue is PDP.

Earlier, the state Governor, Gabriel Suswam, described President Goodluck Jonathan as a true democrat, adding that Nigeria “must be ruled by democrats.”

Noting that the future of the nation is guaranteed under Jonathan, the state governor said: “Victory will be ours on 28 March 2015.”

He stressed that the nation is in need of leaders who can think straight; leaders the people can count on their support and whose word is bond.

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has condemned what it termed, “the needless resort to sheer hysteria by the PDP and the Jonathan Administration over the globally-acclaimed appearance of the APC’s presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, at the Chatham House in London on Thursday.”

In a statement issued in London on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said that even when it was so apparent that the PDP and the Jonathan Administration were so stunned and stung by Gen. Buhari’s well-accepted presentation, they could have saved themselves from further disgrace by simply keeping quiet, instead of exposing their inanities.

‘’For the spokesmen of the PDP and the Jonathan Campaign organisation to have rushed to the press to denounce what was a patriotic presentation by a high-regarded Nigerian is not only absurd but a new low, even for those who have lost every sense of propriety in their public actions and pronouncements,’’ it said.

APC said that the level of paranoia of the PDP and the Jonathan Administration was so high, even before the General’s presentation that they went to hire some poor folks to protest at the Chatham House over an issue they knew nothing about.

The party said it was just as well that the rent-a-crowd show boomeranged when those among the scanty protesters who were interviewed said they did not even know why they were there, with some of them hiding behind their placards.

‘’The fact that the Jonathan Administration wasted public funds in hiring people to protest against Gen. Buhari’s appearance is another indication of how the commonwealth has been consistently frittered away under theclueless and incompetent Jonathan Administration,’’ it said, wondering who appropriated the funds that were wasted on the uninformed and disinterested band of protesters.

APC also described as the worst case of double standard for PDP and the Jonathan Administration to question the basis for Gen. Buhari’s appearance at the Chatham House, when the same platform was used a few weeks back by the Administration, which sent National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, there to push for the postponement of the 2015 general elections.

‘’So it is OK for Dasuki to speak at the Chatham House, one of the most important platforms for any statesman, but forbidden for the APC presidential candidate to use the same platform? The needless vituperation of the PDP and the Jonathan megaphones against our candidate is precisely the reason the sinking ruling party and the failed Administration it sired have become the behind of jokes around the world.

‘’Instead of apologising for seeking to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians by saying that Gen. Buhari went to London for medical treatment, these band of poor propagandists persisted in dancing naked in the public square. What a pity?’’ the party said.

The statement concluded by appluding Gen. Buhari for his well-crafted, well-delivered and patriotic presentation, and his excellent handling of the subsequent question-and-answer session at such a big platform as the Chatham House, saying “despite the barrage of personal attacks and death wishes by the PDP and its agents, the General’s stock has continued to rise both within and outside Nigeria.”

In a related development, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Friday raised the alarm that Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu has perfected plan that will make him the president of the country in case the All Progressives Congress (APC) emerges victorious in the Presidential election.

According to the ruling party, the APC leader and his supporters within the party are banking on the alleged ill-health of General Muhammadu Buhari, to find his way to power through the back door.

Femi Fani-Kayode, director, Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation at a press conference said the APC leaders are aware that Buhari has multiple illness of “prostate cancer, acute asthma and that he suffers from dementia” and therefore won’t last long in office.

The first phase of the plan, he said has been kicked off by Tinubu who he alleged has put the APC vice presidential candidate, Prof Yemi Oshibajo, on oath to resign from office after just six months to pave the way for him (Tinubu) to get nominated as the replacement.

According to him, this plan was also on the table in 2011 when Pastor Tunde Bakare was the running mate to Buhari.

Tinubu, Fani-Kayode alleged, is now banking on the alleged ill-health of Buhari, hoping that if he (Tinubu) emerges as the VP, Buhari will die, and he (Tinubu) will take over as the President of the nation.

The desire to be president, Fani-Kayode said, was the reason why Tinubu has been investing heavily in the funding of the APC as a party as well as the presidential campaign of the opposition party.

His words; “Since the formation of the APC it has been an open secret that Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu is its national leader and also its biggest financier.

“The question that should agitate every Nigerian is why Tinubu has been investing heavily in the APC presidential project to such a point that he has single-handed produced the joint presidential ticket of Buhari and Osinbajo.

“It should baffle well-meaning Nigerians why Senator Tinubu has decided to draft Buhari, despite his age, acrimonious background and questionable health status, into the presidential race whilst ensuring that his stooge, Osinbajo was foisted on the general as vice presidential candidate.

“The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation wishes to use this forum to expose the ungodly plan by Senator Tinubu to seize the presidency of Nigeria by subterfuge.

“You will recall how Senator Tinubu wanted to be running mate to General Muhammadu Buhari in spite of the nationwide resentment for Muslim-Muslim ticket that he and General Buhari planned to foist on their party men and women.

“Senator Tinubu had justified the ticket by saying that competence was the important thing and not the issue of religion.

“But when he and General Buhari could not push through the agenda within the APC, he (Senator Tinubu), after being given the opportunity to nominate a vice presidential candidate, decided to prop up his stooge in the person of Prof Osinbajo.

“Now the real reason Senator Tinubu nominated Osinbajo has been made known to us and we hereby offer a public service to the Nigerian people by drawing national attention to it. Credible pieces of information at our disposal indicate that Tinubu has perfected plans to come to power through the back door.

“Senator Tinubu, according to our information, has compelled Professor Osinbajo to swear to an oath that after six months in office, he would resign as the vice president, in the unlikely event that their party wins.

“The wicked plot, as laid out by them, is to force Professor Osinbajo to resign for Senator Tinubu to be nominated by General Buhari as his replacement.

“The ultimate objective of this plot is to ensure that Tinubu becomes President.

“The script is simple: given the questionable health of General Buhari, Senator Tinubu who is desperate to be president for his own selfisfh reasons will simply bid his time in the evil expectation that General Buhari will not be able to go the whole hog.”

According to the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation spokesman, the realisation of the plot is a grand plot to deny the north the chance to govern the nation, should Buhari win the presidential election.

How wicked can those that hatched this plan be? How unfair can they be to the North, to General Buhari and to Nigerians? We wish General Buhari long life. Senator Tinubu’s dangerous plan is about getting power. This is sad. No thoroughbred Yoruba man or indeed Nigerian wants to get power through the misfortune of another person.

But this is the perfidious path that Tinubu is passing through. This is repugnant.

It will interest you to know that our information is strengthened by the very similar act of resignation, which Senator Tinubu had planned to force on Pastor Tunde Bakare in 2011.

“Becoming the vice president is not the destination but becoming the president!

“The agenda of the cabal within the APC is with the perceived health challenges of General Buhari.

“They have told themselves in hushed tones that he has prostate cancer, acute asthma and that he suffers from dementia.

“This is their assessment and not ours. We do not know how true this is or what the nature of his illness is and neither are we interested. All these allegations of ill-health, to the cabal provide the justification for their evil plan.

“All structures around Buhari are all Tinubu’s structures. All the actors around Buhari that are driving his campaign behind the scenes are all Tinubu’s men.

“Most of the covert funding for this campaign comes from Tinubu’s friend outside the country and from Tinubu himself. So, if he becomes President, Buhari will become virtually incapacitated and he will not be the one running the government.

“Those behind this plan would now be waiting for Buhari to pass on. That is what Tinubu want to do to the North and to Nigeria.

“This is a wicked and ungodly attempt for Tinubu not only against the North and the Hausa/FulanI but against the whole country.

“We are convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that most Nigerians are not with this cabal.

“This is because no sane or rationale person would wish another evil to actualise his political ambition.

“We have deemed it fit to let the whole world know why the leadership of the APC is desperate for power and why the cabal controlling the APC is hell bent to ensure that General Buhari becomes president.

“Our candid advice to General Buhari is: Watch your back,” he said.

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