Aniagwu said Tinubu by his action, denigrated the office of the president that he seeks to occupy and brought shame on Nigerians.
By Ishaya Ibrahim
The flagbearer of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has appealed to the international community to forgive the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, over what he said was an embarrassing Chatham House outing.
At a press conference in Asaba, Delta state, Atiku, speaking through one of his campaign spokesmen, Charles Aniagwu, tendered what he called “an unreserved apology” to the international community.
Aniagwu, who is also the Delta State information commissioner, said “the apology had become necessary following the ignoble and mendacious show of shame put up by Tinubu and his handlers at a global stage like Chatham House”.
Recall that Tinubu gave a speech at the Chatham House in the United Kingdom last Monday but was knocked by many Nigerians for choosing to delegate some questions to others to answer during the question-and-answer session.
Aniagwu said, “Tinubu by his action had denigrated the office of the president that he seeks to occupy and had brought immeasurable shame on Nigerians.
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“As a party and as a presidential campaign organisation, I want to on behalf of my principal, Atiku Abubakar apologise to the international community that, that kind of disgrace is not who we are in Nigeria.
“For us in PDP as a political party, beyond the fact that we have continued to engage with different stakeholders and Nigerians across all works of life, our presidential candidate and his running mate are still very much ever ready to interface with Nigerians wherever they are in terms of their geographical location, or the ethnic group they belong or the class that they find themselves that we will continue to do so.
“In line with our party motto, we are quite convinced that power belongs to the people and that they represent the sovereign and as such, we will not take for granted the rights of Nigerians to scrutinise our candidate, the rights of Nigerians to continue to ask questions as to what we are putting on the table.
“Beyond the fact that our candidate has come up with his policy document titled ‘My Covenant With Nigerians’ that it is a covenant with Nigerians which embodies policy priorities that the Atiku-Okowa government will deploy for the purpose of adding value to the lives of Nigerians.
“The Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa would continue to seek more ways for additional input from Nigerians for the purpose of enriching the discourse and our desire to have a country that works and works for all of us.
“I am happy that you have continued to monitor developments in our country. Yesterday we were in Lafia and today our presidential train is in Jos, where and where has the APC been to apart from the disgrace that was visited on all of us at Chatam House?”
“We needed to render this apology so that our children will not go for an international examination and think that it is the right thing to do to distribute examination questions for others to answer for them. Nigerians at any given time can stand their ground on any issue, so we are making this apology on behalf of the APC since they have not appreciated the shame they have brought to our wonderful country,” Aniagwu added.