The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress,
Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday said there was
a plan to sabotage the coming election.
Tinubu cited the lingering fuel crisis and naira redesign by
the Central Bank of Nigeria as part of the plot to scuttle the poll and his expected
victory.
The APC standard bearer spoke during the APC presidential
campaign held at the MKO Abiola stadium, Kuto, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
However, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and oil
marketers faulted the ex-Lagos state governor’s allegations.
The PDP argued that Tinubu was simply exposing the failures
of the APC regime, insisting that his defeat in the election was imminent.
Speaking in Yoruba,
the former Lagos State governor stated, “They don’t want this election to hold.
They want to scuttle it. Will you allow them?”
He, however, encouraged Nigerians to defy the fuel scarcity
to exercise their franchise, stating that the poll would be a superior
revolution.
“They have started coming up with the issue of ‘no fuel’.
Don’t worry, if there is no fuel, we will trek to cast the vote.
“If you like, increase the price of fuel, hide the fuel or
change the ink on the naira notes, we will win the election. We will use our
PVCs (permanent voter cards) to take over the government from them; if they
like, let them say there is no fuel, we will trek there (polling booths).
“They are full of mischief, they want to create a fuel
crisis, they have started creating a fuel crisis, but, forget about it, put
your mind at rest, I’m assuring you. I, Asiwaju will end fuel scarcity.
“Let the price of fuel continue to increase, they are the
ones that know where they are hoarding it. They are hoarding naira notes, they
are hoarding fuel, we will vote and we will win.
“If you like, change the ink in the naira note, we will win
the election, the opposition will be defeated.”
Addressing youths who
thronged the rally, a former Lagos State
governor promised that his administration would end the issue of strikes in the
university system if elected into office in February.
He also promised student loans, pledging to ensure no
student spends an extra year on any course.
He said “I’m a youth, I’m here for you and you will not be
put to shame. We will take over the government from them; they are traitors
that want to wrest the government from us.
“This is a revolution, this election is a revolution. They
are creating artificial fuel scarcity, they are saying they want to increase
fuel price to N200, but let your mind be at rest, we will end fuel scarcity, we
will end fuel crisis.
Student loan
“Great youths, I’m assuring you one thing: there will be student loans, nobody will drop out of the university because of school fees.
“I guarantee you
that. Nobody will have to repeat class for eight years and not graduate, we are
too smart, we are brilliant, we are courageous, we are sharp, we will make a
four-year course a four-year course. Do you agree? Will you vote? Whether there is fuel or not,
call your sisters.”
While assuring the
APC standard bearer that the support from the state would be 100 per cent, the
governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, added that Tinubu is the best deal for
the country at this period.
Abiodun, who also
called on the people of the state to go all out and claim their permanent voter
cards, noted that the candidates of the APC were the best.
Our correspondent reports that the rally almost turned into
an exhibition of assorted charms as hoodlums loyal to a candidate in the
South-West threw caution to the wind during the programme.
The atmosphere at the stadium became tense following the
show of force by the hoodlums who displayed charms.
Pandemonium later broke out when some students who were at
the event clashed with the thugs who were attacking people.
During the melee, one person collapsed while two others were
stabbed.
Many people took to their heels during the violence which
was later brought under control.
Speaking on Tinubu’s comments on a plot to scuttle the
polls, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, stated, “This is exposing the failure of the
APC-led government where Tinubu is the national leader.
“Redesigning money; is it an opposition programme? They are
in charge of petroleum supply, they are in charge of the CBN, and they are
saying there is a fifth columnist. The fifth columnist cannot be outside and if
they are, they have lost control; they have failed. So you ask him, not me.
“Tinubu is complaining about a policy of his own government
where he is the national leader, how would you ask the opposition party? I am
not a member of their party, I’m not a member of the fifth columnist.”
In a statement on Tinubu’s allegation, the Atiku/Okowa
Campaign Organisation berated the APC candidate for “trying to blackmail
President Muhammadu Buhari and blame the All Progressives Congress-led Federal
Government over his looming devastating rejection by Nigerians.’’
PDP PCC
The Spokesperson for the Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation, Kola Ologbondiyan, described Tinubu’s statement as a face-saving measure ahead of his looming electoral defeat.
He stated, “Our campaign finds it pathetic that Asiwaju
Tinubu is seeking a face-saving measure ahead of his shattering electoral
defeat by shedding crocodile tears and claiming that the redesigning of the
naira notes and the fuel crisis under the APC administration, which he has
reportedly been corruptly benefitting, were plots to scuttle the 2023 general
elections
“It is unfortunate that Asiwaju Tinubu is trying to hoodwink
Nigerians by seeking to exonerate himself and blame others in the Buhari
led-APC administration for the biting fuel scarcity in the country, when in reality, he (Asiwaju Tinubu) is known
to be behind the insensitive and anti-people policies that have brought so much
calamity to our country, including the
current persistent fuel scarcity.
“It indeed speaks volumes of Asiwaju Tinubu’s character,
that while he is reported to be hugely involved in the corruption in the
petroleum sector, which had led to the fuel crisis, he is pretending to care
for the pains Nigerians are passing through just because it was beginning to
affect his political life ambition.’’
Furthermore, the PCC said it was clear that Tinubu was
lamenting the naira re-designing “because the policy has frustrated his
boastful plots to use slush fund, which he reportedly stashed away in secret
vaults, for vote buying and manipulative schemes, including alleged funding of
thugs to compromise the integrity of the 2023 Presidential election through the
setting up of the Jagaban Army.’’
“Of course, only politicians who have always won elections
by relying on bullion vans have become troubled over the CBN monetary policy to
redesign the naira,’’ the statement added.
The campaign council advised him to withdraw from the race
“before the Waterloo of his loud defeat by Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.’’
It also accused Tinubu of trying to distance himself from
the Buhari regime which “he told the world that he brought into office just
because he wants to beguile Nigerians and take their votes.’’
The oil marketers said it was wrong for the APC candidate to
allege that the current scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit was aimed at scuttling
the election.
Dealers under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum
Marketers Association of Nigeria, and the Petroleum Retail Outlet Owners
Association of Nigeria, stated that Tinubu’s claims lacked justification.
The National Public Relations Officer, IPMAN, Chief Ukadike
Chinedu, stated, “The issue of fuel scarcity has been a recurring issue during
transition periods. It is not basically because of this election, no!
“During the time of former President Goodluck Jonathan, I
know that it took the intervention of the Senate Committee on Petroleum to sort
out the arrears that were owed to marketers by the Federal Government at that
time.
“And within the period of time that that issue was on the
ground, there was a serious scarcity of petroleum products across the country.
And even the labour unions threatened to go on strike then.
“The threat was to ensure that the outgoing government
settled the money being owed to marketers. I also know that there was an
intervention committee that was set up by the Federal Government to take care
of that during that period.”
Also speaking, the President, PETROAN, Billy Gillis-Harry,
explained that it was wrong to attribute the lingering fuel scarcity to a plot
to sabotage the February election.
He said, “PETROAN says no to that. It is not correct.
Petroleum product scarcity is due to the supply glitch and logistics issues
that are impacting negatively on the NNPC’s efforts to flood our outlets with
PMS.
“So that cannot in
any way be designed to scuttle the elections for 2023. It is not correct.”
LP faults Tinubu
On his own part, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, advised the APC standard bearer ‘’to stop going to Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.’’
Obi, in a statement by the Head of Media, Obi/Datti
Presidential Campaign Council, Diran Onifade, stressed that things go wrong for
the APC candidate whenever he visited Abeokuta.
He said, “If I were to be Tinubu’s adviser, I would have
advised him to stop going to Abeokuta. In the same Abeokuta, he made the gaffe
of ‘Olule’ and how President Muhammadu Buhari was crying on tv, ’emi lokan’ and
all that.
“Now, he (Tinubu) is saying the fuel scarcity is meant to
make the elections fail and how they are going to take over power from them.
Who are they or them?
“He could have been talking to the CBN governor (Godwin
Emefiele) and the Minister of Petroleum and who is the minister of petroleum in
this respect? President Muhammadu Buhari. The same man that Tinubu has been
campaigning that he wants to take over from and continue the good work.
“I think his advisers should advise him to stop going to
Abeokuta because he gets things wrong every time he goes there.’’
The CBN’s Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Osita
Nwanisobi, did not respond to Tinubu’s allegation regarding the redesign of the
naira.
He asked our correspondent to send a query to him on the
Whatsapp platform, but he had yet to respond as of the time of filing this
report.
The nation has been witnessing recurrent scarcity of PMS
since last year. The NNPCL, the sole importer of petrol into the country,
however, kept mute when contacted to speak on Tinubu’s claim on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room has
raised concerns over the fuel crisis in the country which, it said, would
affect the exercise if not curtailed.
The Situation Room, comprising about 80 groups, also said it
was concerned about the impact it could have on transportation and logistics
during the elections.
The CSOs, therefore, called on the President to meet with
the oil marketers and NNPCL to proffer a lasting solution to the lingering fuel
scarcity before the elections.
Nigerians, they said, had been severely affected by the
persistent fuel scarcity and continuous increase in price since 2022.
The coalition said the timelines given to people who have
been asked to collect their Permanent Voter Cards were unrealistic and would
lead to disenfranchisement.
It called on the Independent National Electoral Commission
to reconsider the January 29 deadline for PVC collection at the local
government areas level to accommodate the large number of Nigerians who had yet
to collect their PVCs.
The Convener of NCSSR, Ene Obi; Co-Conveners, Asma’u Joda
and James Ugochukwu, raised the observations in a statement on the state of the
nation and PVC collection on Wednesday.
It read in part, “With the commission anticipating the
deployment of over 100,000 vehicles including motorcycles and tricycles to
ensure that personnel and materials arrive at polling units before voters on
election day, Situation Room calls on INEC to ensure that this logistics
arrangement is revisited to accommodate the present realities if this has not
been already done as elections are fast approaching.
“Situation Room,
therefore, calls on the President and Minister of Petroleum, President
Muhammadu Buhari, to meet with the oil marketers and NNPCL to proffer a lasting
solution to the lingering fuel scarcity before the elections.
“Going by the INEC calendar on the distribution of PVCs, the
Local Government Area distribution at INEC offices is set to end on January 29 2023. Situation Room is worried
that the timelines given to people who have been asked to return to collect
their PVCs are unrealistic and would lead to disenfranchisement.’’
The NCSSR also expressed concern over the pockets of
violence at the campaign grounds as the political parties and their candidates
intensified their campaigns in different states.
It noted, “Situation
Room recalls that in September 2022, at the start of party campaigns, it called
on political parties and citizens to desist from fomenting violence. Section
93(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 prohibits political parties and candidates from
directly or indirectly threatening anyone with force or violence during any
political campaign with the intent of compelling that person to support or
refrain from supporting a political party or candidate.
“Situation Room
reminds political parties and candidates of the penalties for this offence as
stated in section 93 (2) of the Act. The Act states that in the case of a
candidate, upon conviction, the person would pay a maximum fine of N1,000,000
or imprisonment for a term of 12 months. For erring political parties, a fine
of N2,000,000 in the first instance and N1,000,000 for any subsequent offence.
“Situation Room has
also observed the use of abusive language and name-calling by some party
leaders with the aim of discrediting other candidates or parties. According to
section 92 (2) of the Electoral Act 2022, abusive, intemperate, slanderous,
base language, insinuations or innuendoes designed or likely to provoke violent
reaction or emotions shall not be employed or used in political campaigns.’’
The group noted that despite the concerns raised previously,
INEC facilities were still under continuous attacks by arsonists.
In a related
development, a former governor of Bayelsa state and senator representing Bayelsa West, Seriake
Dickson, has said the timing of the currency redesign by the CBN is wrong.
This is as he hoped
that the policy would not distract the nation from having successful elections.
The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, had in October 2022 announced that N200,
N500, and N1000 notes would be re-designed, adding that the new design would be
effective from mid-December 2022.
He, however, said the existing currencies would remain the
legal tender until January 31.
But Dickson believed the CBN should have introduced the
policy under a new administration.
He stated that the consequences of such an action would have
been well-managed by another administration as the current was coming to an
end.
The senator spoke at an interaction programme by the Rotary
Club of Abuja Maitama in Abuja on Wednesday.
He said, “The timing of the policy to me is a problem no
matter how well-intended. I feel this coming at the twilight of an
administration of almost eight years.
“I think a major fundamental policy such as this should have
been left for the next administration to manage the consequences and fine-tune.
Let’s hope the citizens are not confused and agitated. Let’s hope it does not
distract us from focusing on having fair and peaceful conduct of the national
election.“
The senator also condemned uncivil comments made against
some candidates, adding that there should be no justification for such utterances.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com