The Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Council has mocked Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over his statement that Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State is capable of turning a rotten situation into a bad one.
Speaking with DAILY INDEPENDENT, Dr. Daniel Bwala, a spokesman of the campaign also chided the Minister of State for Labour and Employment and Chief Spokesperson of the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign, Festus Keyamo for quoting Atiku’s statement at the Interactive Session with Arewa Joint Committee held on Saturday in Kaduna State out of context.
According to Bwala “The APC as a political party is a damaged goods. They are so damaged that the desperate search and gasping for air has taken away their senses in understanding conversations and context”.
“The reference made to Atiku and the words he said at the Arewa Summit was misconstrued mischievously by Festus Keyamo, the spokesman for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu”.
“Atiku appeared before the Northern (Arewa) caucus and he was making the case that he being an Arewa man who has traversed the length and breadth of this country and has related with any part of Nigeria can better represent their interests”.
“In the same way, when Atiku Abubakar went to the South Eastern caucus, he told the Igbos that as a northerner who has had a rich history of interrelationships, not just with the Igbos but the rest of Nigeria, that his chequered history both in business, politics and administration, he has had so much dealings with the Igbos”.“He said people should look into his life and see that at every given time, he took an Igbo as his running mate such as Ben Obi, Peter Obi and now Ifeanyi Okowa. He told them at the meeting that he is going to serve as the ladder for the actualisation of Igbo presidency”.
“Now what he said to the Igbo community, why didn’t Keyamo read it out of context? If Atiku is to appear before a conference of Catholics, the same message he will convey is that as a Northerner and a businessman, he will make reference to the relationship he has had with the Catholics and he will say he is better to protect the interest of the Catholics”.
“So for APC that is so confused because of the bad administration to a point where they have not been able to Kickstart their campaign because they are fighting over manifesto”.
“Asiwaju believed that the APC government has failed and he will nor run on their manifesto. The supporters of Buhari felt that he cannot run on his own manifesto when it is the Buhari government that will campaign for him. This is how confused they are”.
“In a bid to grasp for air, they seek for every opportunity to misconstrue and misinterpret what people are saying. Take for example today, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate while extolling the virtues of El-Rufai, he said in clear terms that El-Rufai is such a personality with the experience that they need and they couldn’t afford to allow him to go seeking for another degree”.“He said they want a type of El-Rufai that will turn a rotten situation into a bad one. I have never heard in any lexicon where you said you are turning a rotten lexicon into a bad one”.
“We are not surprised because when their government came on board, it took them six months before they could appoint Ministers and that affected the economy,” Bwala said
