The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday took a swipe at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag bearer, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for his persistent attacks on the health status of the ruling party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The APC said its candidate is as fit for the office he is contesting for.
Insisting that there was no cause for alarm about the health status of the former governor of Lagos State, the council argued that the persistent allegations of ill health by the opposition was a sign of an inferiority complex and fear of their impending defeat at the poll next year.
The spokesman for PDP Presidential Campaign Management Council, Senator Dino Melaye, had alleged that Asiwaju Tinubu was not physically and mentally fit for next year’s general election and that he should subject himself to a medical examination.
Expressing confidence in the strength of PDP candidate, Melaye had said: “We challenge both of them (Tinubu and Atiku). They should go for a medical examination because the constitution says that you must be physically and mentally fit to be president.”
But the PCC’s Director of Special Media Projects and New Media, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode said all the allegations against Asiwaju Tinubu were borne out of the fear of imminent defeat staring the PDP in the face ahead of the 2023 general election.
In a statement yesterday in Abuja, Fani-Kayode maintained that “compared to Atiku Abubakar, the Jagaban is as fit as a fiddle”.
He added: “And unlike the former Vice President he (Tinubu) has nothing to hide; he has no skeletons in his cupboard; he does not visit the dark places and he is pure in body, spirit and soul.
“Atiku cannot come anywhere near Asiwaju in terms of his mental or physical virility or acumen.
“Whether mentally, physically or spiritually, Atiku is very far behind…
“Atiku and his camp know that Jagaban will win this election hands-down and, as each day passes, it is getting clearer. That is why they are so jittery.
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“That is why they resort to nothing but falsehood, insults and abuse. That is why the only thing they talk about is Jagaban’s health and age.”
Berating Melaye and the opposition for not engaging in the issue-based campaign, Fani-Kayode argued that for the APC, “we want a campaign that centres on issues…”
On the recent call by the PDP flag bearer that former President Olusegun Obasanjo should be honoured with his face on any of the new naira notes to be released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the former aviation minister dismissed the sincerity in such call.
He said: “Atiku is lying. He does not mean a word of it. He is offering a Greek gift. He is playing politics.
“Deep down, he hates Obasanjo with a passion and he has always done this because the President outfoxed and outpunched him at every turn when he attempted his treacherous move to usurp him and take his place as President.
“Some of us shall never forget that. A man brought you from nowhere and made you his Vice President and you tried to knife him in the back and take his position. You tried to disgrace and humiliate him and you coveted his seat.
“That sounds like Lucifer when he was in heaven, to me.
“No matter what you say about Asiwaju Tinubu, he has never betrayed those that helped him to power. He is loyal to his own fault whilst Atiku does not know the meaning of the word.”
Fani-Kayode reiterated that the APC was committed to fixing the country and emphasised that the “only person in the race that we can trust with the destiny of 200 million Nigerians is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu”.