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National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu, has described former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi
Fani-Kayode, as a peddler of falsehood hired for a smear campaign
against the APC, its leader, and presidential candidate.
“Fani-Kayode is not as smart as he thinks. If you read between the
lines of his hysteria you see another extreme sentiment: that of surging
desperation”, Mr. Tinubu said in a statement issued on Sunday by his
Special Adviser on Media, Sunday Dare.
“His statement indicates that even he now realizes that his pay
master has lost to Buhari/Osinbajo. The game is over. The whistle has
blown. What the fantasy man seeks to do is change the game. He seeks to
run against Tinubu in hopes the outcome will be better. Fani now grasps
at straw in the night wind”.
You may recall that last Friday, Mr. Fani-Kayode, who is Director of
Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organization, made a
weighty allegation that Yemi Osinbajo, the APC vice presidential
candidate, had sworn an oath to vacate his seat in six months, should
the party win the March 28 presidential election.
According to Fani-Kayode, Mr. Tinubu nominated the vice presidential
candidate as part of his nocturnal “plans to come to power through the
back door”.
“Tinubu, according to our information, has compelled 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 PDP
campaign spokesman alleged.
“The wicked plot, as laid out by them, is to force Osinbajo to resign
for Tinubu to be nominated by Buhari as his replacement”, Fani-Kayode
added
In his response, Mr. Tinubu said that the former minister “is on a
futile journey to shield the populace from seeing the failures of his
paymasters”.
“His statement taken in context indicates that his paymasters will
lose the election. They are now worried about what will happen
thereafter”, he said.
“The majority of Nigerians have concluded that they have done enough
damage to our politics, economy and security; and cannot be tolerated
any longer. Rather, they should be voted out by the people. Their
journey of lies and deception is at its terminal point.
“It lied to Nigerians and the international community that elections
had to be shifted first because of the PVC issue and later it became a
security ambush to change the date thus aborting Nigeria’s date with
destiny at the polls.
“That FFK (Femi Fani-Kayode) is the best a ruling party can do as a
spokesman speaks volumes about the PDP. They are bereft of talent and
character. They are filled with lies and chicanery. FFK is simply the
worst and most outspoken of a bad lot”.
The APC leader, however, said that he welcomed Mr. Fani-Kayode’s
interventions because they are of such low quality and base character
and his utterances frighten people.
“Instead of scaring the people away from the APC, his work scares
people that someone so unfit is so close to the seat of power, someone
so unhinged is given free rein to spit bile and call that public
discourse. One must wonder who is unbalanced, the misfit or he who hires
him. Keep at it FFK. Continue”, Mr. Tinubu said.
“Most Nigerians are fed up with this government and desire change.
They await eagerly that opportunity at the polls. They cannot tolerate
four more years of a Fani Kayode, of his paymasters and his utterances.
That is your agony Fani Kayode and of course that of the PDP and its
gang of destroyers. You will not be able to persuade majority of
Nigerians who are prepared to use their vote for a positive change. And
if only to shield the populace from your peculiar brand of abuse of
power both you and your boss must go”.
The former Lagos governor noted that the ruling party’s smear
campaign failed to make a headway against the APC’s presidential and
vice presidential candidates, hence, the focus on his person.
“This plot will not work. Tinubu is not scheming to become president
through the back door. He, just like any qualified Nigerian has the
right to walk in through the front door if he so desires. But he is not
on the ticket”, he said.
“For the job he is hired to do, it is expected that a Fani Kayode
will be blinded to the positive nature of the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket. If
he has failed to read and do some research on the character of an
Osinbajo, let me help him.
“Yemi Osinbajo is fiercely independent. A brilliant mind of great
character and a consummate reformer and legal crusader. You will not
dare speak of him in this manner. The APC ticket is of people of great
resolve. But because among your own crowd you have people who will
willingly destroy not only our institutions and country you think so of
others.
“APC is a party with people of impeccable character. Courageous and
patriotic leaders who are out to rescue our nation. And you, Fani Kayode
are on record to have said so in several interviews”.
Mr. Tinubu said that he would not dignify Mr. Fani-Kayode’s
“outrageous lies” with any reply, adding that Nigerians know him as a
peddler of falsehood.
“Femi Fani Kayode cannot just leave Tinubu alone because they see him
as their political nemesis. But Tinubu will not be their dart board. If
they want to see the culprit behind their flagging misfortune, they do
not need to glare at Tinubu. They should go home and peer into the
nearest mirror. Therein their trouble lies.
“Now that FFK has revealed why his party, the PDP has consistently
persecuted Bola Tinubu through phony Code of Conduct Tribunal, massive
unjustified attacks against his character and integrity, intimidation
and harassment.
“They all have failed. In what is a classic case of abuse of power,
the government you now work for have accused Tinubu in the past of
baseless and unproven allegations whereas in your party, including
yourself, there are wolves feasting on the commonwealth of the people.
“For a leadership that cannot define corruption and theft, we are
left with a gang of plunderers. You have openly and secretly stolen and
plundered the wealth of the nation without the slightest concern about
morality and the suffering masses”.
