The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has berated the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, over his emergence as the APC’s flag bearer, saying his life-long dream of clinching the party’s presidential ticket is not for the “wellbeing of Nigerians but out of desperation to lay hands on the keys to the nation’s treasury”.

The PDP said Tinubu is embarking on a journey to nowhere with a contest with the opposition party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who the party described as “more competent and more prepared presidential candidate”.

The main opposition party said these in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, a copy of which was made available to The Star on Wednesday.

The party further stated that Tinubu’s acceptance speech exposed his manifest lack of capacity, resourcefulness, and selflessness to manage the affairs of a country as complex as Nigeria.

The statement read: “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) mocks Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for clinching at very great price, the Presidential ticket of the moribund, decrepit and crippled All Progressives Congress (APC), which has since served out its purpose as a fraudulent contraption that brought in the failed, corrupt and rudderless administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Our party also sympathizes with Asiwaju for embarking on a journey to nowhere as he is no match for PDP’s more popular, more competent and more prepared Presidential Candidate, His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar the unifier and the people’s choice, who defeated President Buhari fair and square in the 2019 presidential election.

“Asiwaju will soon realize that Nigeria is not one of his acquired estates or fiefdoms and that the Nigerian people are not his political string-puppets and retinue of lackies, from whom he bought the APC presidential ticket.

“Asiwaju will also soon realize that Nigerians hold him responsible for his self-confessed role in installing the failed Buhari-led administration that subjugated the people, brought excruciating economic hardship, acute poverty, bloodletting, terrorism, mass killings, promoted disunity, tribalism and nepotism, lawlessness, massive treasury looting and unpardonable life-discounting experiences to our country.

“It is indeed reprehensible that Asiwaju, after being handed an APC flag that refused to unfold in recognition of the gloomy times of the APC, did not demonstrate any form of remorse for the injuries he engineered and caused our nation in the last seven years.

“His failure to express empathy for the victims of violence, kidnapping, mass killings and acts of terrorism, especially the recent gruesome attack in a sacred place of worship, St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo in Ondo State serves as a foretaste of the big cover up and harrowing experience that Nigerians will face, God forbid, should Asiwaju emerge as President in 2023.

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“His acceptance speech further exposed his manifest lack of capacity, presence of mind, resourcefulness and selflessness to manage the affairs of a nation as complex as Nigeria.

“From Asiwaju’s egotistic outbursts before and after the APC manipulative National Convention, it is crystal clear that his life-long dream of clinching the APC Presidential ticket is not for the wellbeing of Nigerians but out of desperation to lay hands on the keys to the nation’s treasury,” the PDP stated.

The party added that Nigerians would reject the APC presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, noting that the citizens now need “a unifier in the face of the pain and discomfort”inflicted on them by Tinubu.

“Asiwaju has insulted the sensibilities of Nigerians enough and this APC National Convention will be his final political outing. This is because Nigerians have had enough and are now, more than ever before, ready and out on the platform of the PDP to defend our nation and reject Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu in 2023 presidential election.

“The Nigerian politics is far more complex and beyond the Lagos politics where Asiwaju operates with brawl and deployment of violence rather than brain.

“What Nigerians needs now is a unifier in the face of the pain and discomfort inflicted on them by Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his live band of APC looters and mean human beings. He needs to know that Nigeria is not Lagos!

“The PDP therefore charges Nigerians to continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with our presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, their choice President in this mission to Rescue, Redirect and Rebuild our nation from the misrule of Asiwaju and his APC,” the PDP said.

The Star