Shaibu said, “Tinubu may be a successful politician whose lifetime ambition is to be President of Nigeria, but it takes more than being a politician to become Nigeria’s president.”
By Jeffrey Agbo
The All Progressives Congress (APC) should replace its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, so as to avoid further embarrassing scenarios occasioned by his continued miscues and gaffes, according to a spokesman of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.
Phrank Shaibu, Atiku’s special assistant on public communications, said in a statement on Sunday that Tinubu should only be contesting to be the grand comedian of the Federal Republic and not Grand Commander of the Federal Republic going by his utterances.
He said, “It is public knowledge that every time Tinubu has come out in public to make a statement or two, he has always goofed. If he is not saying that voter’s card has expiration date; he is saying that young Nigerians are tweeting on WhatsApp or that 50 million youths should be recruited into the Nigerian Army and be fed with cassava in the morning, and Agbado in the night. How can you say Nigerians are Tweeting on WhatsApp? Common, is that the kind of person we want to hand 21st Century Nigeria over to?
“In his latest gaffe at the Lagos rally, he asked Nigerians to get their APV in order to vote for APC when even primary school children know that the PVC is the only item that admits a voter into a polling unit.
“Without mincing words, Tinubu’s gaffes already supply comedians, skit makers, meme-makers, and TikTokers with content. He is a self-writing joke and will make Nigeria a bye-word for scorn among the comity of nations, which is why he shouldn’t get close to power.
“Truth be told, lack of mental depth complicated by dementia occasioned by old age is the most mis-recommending criterion against a Tinubu presidency. And examples abound to buttress this point. Just listen to any of his extempore speeches and what you find is lack of coherence, logic and verve. It is for the purpose of unmasking the real Tinubu and exposing him for who he really is, that we have challenged the APC standard bearer to an hour-long television interview.”
Shaibu said the APC’S seven-and-a-half-year reign is a sad reminder of Nigeria’s arrested development since 2015 when they came to power.
Shaibu further said Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s claim at the Lagos rally that Tinubu would lift Nigerians out of hardship and hunger was an indictment on the APC, an admission that indeed over 133 million Nigerians now live in abject poverty as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
“Now they are selling a message of a renewed hope. It is common knowledge that darkness cannot cure darkness and sickness cannot cure sickness. How can the APC be promising to fix problems exacerbated by the APC? This is balderdash,” he said.
Shaibu said that the most compelling reason for the APC to be de-registered is the fact that it has driven millions of Nigerians deeper into poverty since 2015, when it has been ruling the country and spent trillions of naira procuring hunger, darkness and insecurity.
Shaibu said, “I must confess that I consider the remarks credited to the APC presidential candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Saturday, November 26th, 2023 where he laboured, albeit unsuccessfully, to paint the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Candidate as ungrateful and over-ambitious as not only offensive but reckless.
“Instead of attacking Atiku, he should have dissipated that energy on telling Nigerians about himself, especially at this time when it is said at various fora that the only thing that is real about Tinubu is his person and that every other ascription on him is a borrowed robe. To be sure, Nigerians believe that Tinubu should come in the open to effectively disclaim the allegation that his name as it appears on public documents is not his name; that the parents he claimed were not his; that the certificates he claimed to be his are not and that the schools he claimed to have attended didn’t know him.
“The issue of which schools he attended is already in the public domain as only few months ago, he told the Independent National electoral commission (INEC) that he didn’t attend primary and secondary schools. The former Lagos governor, however, claimed he had two degrees from two American universities, which he further stated had been stolen by unknown soldiers during the military junta of the 1990s!!
“The disclosures came in an affidavit submitted by Tinubu to the electoral office as part of his eligibility filings for the 2023 presidential elections.
“The documents released on Friday, 24th June, 2022, showed that the APC presidential flag bearer left the columns for his primary and secondary education unmarked. But he said he obtained a degree in business and administration in 1979, apparently referring to his previous claims of attending the Chicago State University.
“Hear him, ‘I went on self-exile from October 1994 to October 1998. When I returned, I discovered that all my property, including all the documents relating to my qualifications and my certificates in respect of paragraph three above, were looted by unknown persons.’
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“Tinubu’s latest claims appear to contradict his previous election submissions, especially in 1999 and 2003 when he ran for office as a governorship candidate in Lagos. He claimed both times that he attended primary and secondary schools.
“He said he attended St Paul Children’s Home School, Ibadan, between 1958 to 1964 while his secondary education was at Government College, Ibadan, between 1965 to 1968. From Ibadan, Tinubu said he proceed to Richard Daley College, Chicago, from 1969 to 1971. He stated finally to have attended both Chicago State University and the University of Chicago.
“Although the Chicago State University confirmed Tinubu as its student, graduating with a degree in business and administration on June 22, 1979, all the submissions were challenged as fraudulent by a prominent Nigerian lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi.
“Fawehinmi, who died in 2009, argued the matter up to the Supreme Court, which dismissed the case on technical grounds rather than on its merits. Now, I don’t know a baggage huger than this for a country like Nigeria that is struggling to sell herself to the world to now have its president weighed down by this dubious pedigree.
“Ask Bode George about the source of Tinubu’s stupendous wealth and what you will hear is a story of how the Jagaban Borgu has placed the entire machinery of Lagos State under his firm, personal control and is milking the state dry. George has told whoever cared to listen that within the span of his Lagos governorship of eight years, from someone who those who knew him said was passably well-to-do, Tinubu grew a monstrous wealth, such that within this period, he also acquired a humongous political influence in Lagos and outside of it.
“Bode George’s position is difficult to ignore. It is an open secret that Tinubu has substantial interests in virtually every sector of Nigeria’s economy, ranging from oil, aviation, banking and finance, real estate, and the media; all courtesy the money he ‘made’ from being Governor of Lagos State for only two terms of eight years. Of course, there are no easy traces to these investments as they are funded in names of shells and proxies. But no one needs to be told that it is all wealth without work − it is Lagos State’s money. So, what morality will Nigeria be preaching by having a president of such questionable make-up?
Shaibu said, “Tinubu may be a successful politician whose lifetime ambition is to be President of Nigeria, but it takes more than being a politician to become Nigeria’s president. Among others things it takes credibility. The fact that everything about Tinubu is shrouded in secrecy should tell us that the APC Presidential Candidate lacks the credibility to govern a country like Nigeria.
“But more importantly, with the disaster that the APC administration has turned out to be, it will be more catastrophic to have a Tinubu as his successor. Governing Nigeria is not all about identifying surrogates who will man critical political offices for future political gains. Nigeria needs a debonair, cerebral, healthy, and a suave president — a man in the mould of Atiku Abubakar.”
