Says Mr Presidential candidate: Lincoln did not contest US Presidency five or six times

The Bola Tinubu Campaign Organisation has picked holes in some facts stated by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). That was the interview he granted Arise Television.
“We have watched Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s interview on ARISE Television and were extremely shocked by the many lies and ignorance displayed by the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.” The organization stated in a statement signed by its Director, Media & Communication, Bayo Onanuga.
“In the interview, Alhaji Atiku exposed himself as a man who is not prepared for the job he is applying for and a man who cannot be entrusted with our commonwealth. He was flippant in his response to important questions about his record of service and how he made money while serving in Customs. He muddled up facts and exhibited befuddling absence of mind.”
Here, according to the organization, are takeaways from what it called “the bungled interview”:
PDP candidate is a lawbreaker: It was most shocking Atiku admitted that he cheated the system for decades and engaged in gross misconduct as a government worker. As a customs officer at the Idi-Iroko border, Atiku revealed that he ran a commercial taxi service, claiming ‘there is no law stopping public officers from doing business in Nigeria”. He punched harder, claiming there is no conflict of interest in doing so.
We found this to be untrue.
Every officer in the civil service is expected to comply with a code of conduct and service rules which bar civil and public servants from engaging in private business while in government employment to the detriment of the service he/she is employed to render to the public. The 1999 constitution further codifies this in Part I, Fifth Schedule, Section 2 (b).
It says a public officer shall not, except where he is not employed on a full-time basis engage or participate in the management or running of any private business, profession or trade. The rules however allow a public officer to engage in farming.
We wonder which rule or which law Atiku was relying upon for his gross misconduct as a public officer. It is our considered view that Atiku gamed the system all through his career in public service, culminating in his founding of the Intel Logistics along with Late Shehu Yar’Adua and some Italians, even while he was still in the employment of the Nigeria Customs Service.
Poor Knowledge of key sectors of the economy: We also found it surprising that the PDP presidential candidate does not know the contribution of the oil and gas industry to Nigeria’s GDP. He claimed the sector represents 20% of our national GDP whereas it is below 10 per cent and it is still falling owing to the growth of the non-oil sector under the current All Progressives Congress-led administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
False Data from Egypt: Atiku Abubakar wanted to impress his audience with his supposed knowledge of international affairs. He ended up embarrassing himself with false data he cited from Egypt. We found his claim that Egypt has 2 million police officers on the streets to be untrue. Various sources put the number at about 500,000 for a population of 104 million and not 80 million as falsely claimed by Atiku.
Rotational Presidency: Asked to justify why the PDP jettisoned Section 3c of its constitution which enshrines power rotation between the North and South, Atiku tried to fudge his answer by focusing on Governor Nyesom Wike and his effort to reconcile with him after he, a northerner snatched the presidential ticket that ought to have been taken by a southerner. While Atiku was playing to the gallery on APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, he didn’t see seeking to be President after 8years of a President from his part of Nigeria as politics of exclusion.
Probed further, Atiku provided several contradictory answers. In one breath, he said power rotation is not in the constitution. In another breath, he said the PDP has never “micro zoned any position’. Then he admitted that the party has always rotated power between the North and the South. Atiku’s justification as to why he became PDP’s presidential candidate, instead of a southerner is a perfect example of ellipsis: “In politics”, he said, “We negotiate power through negotiations(Sic)”. Whatever that means.
Atiku ever an expert in not telling the truth also did not come clean over his once-upon-a-time preference for a same-faith ticket. In 1993, after Atiku and Kingibe lost to MKO Abiola in the SDP presidential primary in Jos, Atiku was the choice of the Yar’Adua camp to become Abiola’s running mate. Abiola overlooked him and picked the more cerebral diplomat and bureaucrat, Babagana Kingibe. In all the tonnes of biographies written about him, there was nowhere he said he opposed Shehu Yar’Adua’s support for his candidacy as Abiola’s VP. He was not against it, since it favoured him. Now, it is politically convenient and opportunistic for him to oppose the Tinubu-Shettima ticket.
Political Credentials: Most reprehensible were Atiku’s lies about how many times he ran to become the governor of Adamawa or the old Gongola State.
Mr Presidential candidate, in case you don’t know due to your limited education, you run for an office, only, when you are on the ballot in an election. Your signifying interest in an office does not mean the same as running for the office. From available records, the first time you contested the governorship election in your state was in 1999. Your name entered the ballot for the first time and you won.
Poor grasp of history: Atiku Abubakar also exhibited poor Knowledge of history when he claimed that Abraham Lincoln, one of America’s famous leaders contested the presidency five to six times before he eventually won.
This is a beer parlour tale that has been recycled over time. Lincoln contested the U.S. presidency twice. He ran in 1860 and 1864 and won both, before he was assassinated on 15 April 1865.
The false story about Lincoln’s failed presidential bids sprang from his previous failed state and national elections, in his state of Illinois. They were not the same as America’s presidential election.
According to historians, Lincoln lost his first election in 1832 for the Illinois state legislature. In 1834, he ran again and won.
In 1843 he ran for Congress. He lost. Three years after in 1846, Lincoln ran for Congress again – this time he won and went to Washington. From established history, in 1848, Lincoln ran for re-election to Congress and lost. In 1854, he ran for Senate of the United States. He lost. Lincoln also made another failed bid for U.S. Senate from Illinois in 1858. He lost to Democrat Steven Douglas.
We conclude that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is ill-prepared to be President of Nigeria if he could bungle a Television interview that was planned well ahead of the day and time the duo of Dr Reuben Abati and Ms Tundun Abiola conducted it.
We expected the PDP presidential candidate to be well informed on any issue before coming on national television to expose himself to avoidable ridicule.
Bayo Onanuga
Director, Media & Communication
Tinubu Campaign Organisation
July 23, 2022

2023: Osun victory signposts PDP’s rescue mission determination – Okowa

Delta Governor and Vice-Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, said the party’s victory in Osun governorship poll was a pointer to its readiness to rescue the country from mal-administration and government insensitivity.

The governor stated this while addressing PDP faithful at a mega rally at Ozoro, on Saturday, and affirmed that PDP remained the only party that could return Nigeria to better days.

He assured that contrary to insinuations in some quarters, PDP was strong, virile and united in the state, adding that what was playing out was democracy-in-action.

“I am glad that some of our friends have come to join us in this revolution to rescue Nigeria.

“The victory of our party last week Saturday in Osun is just the beginning of the revolution to rescue Nigeria and to return us to the path of growth.

“In the last seven years, it has not been too well with us as a nation, but we know that God has come to our rescue and it’s just for the PDP to take it and run with it; that sign has already started with our victory in Osun.

“Last Saturday, you listened, you watched and you waited for the result in Osun S. We went to the heartland of the APC in Yoruba land to make a statement and to God be the glory.

“They did not give PDP a chance; the APC thought it was a done-deal but God showed His mighty hand and when the results started coming, it was unfortunate for the APC.

“That is just the beginning and I must thank Nigerians who have come to realise that something has gone wrong and that we need rescue and there is only one party that can rescue Nigeria as at today and it is the PDP,” the governor said.

He pointed out that PDP was the only party with the most experienced candidate and urged Nigerians to support the party’s rescue mission.

According to him, when you look at all the persons they have brought out, you can see the distinction; we need a man who is calm with a lot of experience; somebody who knows what to do from day one.

“And, if you look at it very well, only one man fits the bill and that’s why we are talking about the ‘Atikulate Revolution’.

“I heard some people saying that PDP is dying in Delta State and I wonder why they are deceiving themselves.

“We are not boasting but on the day of election, our people will come out and vote and in the next election we are going to win all available seats – from the Assemby to the Presidential.

“In 2019 they got two local government areas but in 2023 we will win the entire 25 local government areas.

“Whatever is going on in the party today is a normal democratic process; so, there is nothing to worry about, no cause for alarm and no cause to fear,” he stated.

The governor thanked PDP’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for nominating him as his running mate, and assured him that Deltans would support the Atiku-Okowa ticket.

“We thank God that a very experienced presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, picked one of your own as his running mate and we give God the glory.

“When it’s time for campaign we will come out to campaign but one thing is that Atiku has done well for the people of South-South, South-East and the people of South-West because we stand for all and he has done well for us.

“2023 is about the youths and women of Nigeria and we cannot continue to suffer and stay hungry. We must definitely move forward,” he stated.

Welcoming party faithful earlier, the state’s Chairman of PDP, Chief Kingsley Esiso, said the primary purpose of the rally was to receive defectors from other parties.

He said that Nigerians could no longer tolerate a party that had divided Nigeria along ethnic, religious and regional lines.

“People are hungry and angry, and in the midst of that, APC showed its desperation and insensitivity by coming up with a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“In Northern Nigeria, Christians constitute no fewer than 40 per cent of the population, yet APC said they couldn’t find a Christian to be vice-presidential candidate.

“Nigerians will not answer them, we will wait till 2023 and answer them with our votes using our PVCs.

“Our people have seen with their eyes what Governor Okowa has done in Delta,” he said.

On the governorship tussle in the state, Esiso urged party faithful to remain calm, adding that INEC had asked stakeholders to maintain calm until the entire court processes were exhausted.

“As the state Chairman of this great party, it is my responsibility to educate our people on developments in the party.

“Some weeks ago our party conducted one of the freest and fairest governorship primaries in Delta state and a candidate emerged and our party has dutifully submitted the name of that candidate.

“It is our responsibility to stand and defend the outcome of that primary. The issue before the court has nothing to do with the integrity and credibility of that primary.

“By the action of INEC yesterday(Friday), we have been told in PDP to wait patently for the outcome of the court judgement,” he stated.

The rally was attended by, Minority Leader of House of Representatives, Chief Ndudi Elumelu, Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori, among others.

The defectors to the PDP, who were in large number were led by Chief Fred Obe and his Grassroot Unity Movement; Chief Solomon Omene, Chief Gladys Agba, Amb. Nwaham Iwendi and APGA State Secretary, Chief A.T. Okrakpo among others.

They apologised for contributing to the emergence of a tyrannical party in APC and pledged to be part of PDP’ rescue mission.

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EBIRERI HENRY OVIE
08036977194
henryebi@yahoo.com