No Serious Vice President Hawks N10,000, PDP Tells Osinbajo

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation has said the current practice by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to go to markets across the country ‘hawking’ N10,000 in the name of TraderMoni is a sign of underemployment, saying this could not have happened in a serious country.

It also described President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 New Year speech as pathetically empty and an indication that he has finally given up, following his irredeemable rejection by Nigerians.

Speaking yesterday on Arise News, a sister broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspaper, a spokesperson of PDP’s presidential campaign organisation, Mr. Akin Osuntokun, said sharing of N10,000 would not help the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government in the general elections.

He said, “Nigerians are not that gullible. Sharing N10,000 in few weeks to the elections will not help this government, unless you are implying that Nigerians are gullible. A country and electorate that vote on that basis has a problem; you campaign on what you have done.

“That is an indication of a vice president who is underemployed. The vice president of a serious country of 180 million people going around markets and motor parks hawking N10,000; is that governance? That is a joke.

“Have you ever heard it in any serious country where the vice president goes from door-to-door to campaign? The vice president of Nigeria – their job is 24 hours, the complexity of Nigeria governance alone. If that is the priority of a vice president – knocking from door-to-door, then, that is an explanation of why the government has failed,” he added.

Commenting on the ‘Operation Python Dance 3’ by the military, the main opposition party said the APC government has served sufficient notice that it has bad faith in the coming election, stressing that the refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the electoral bill was a good example.

Osuntokun said, “A president that is interested in conducting credible elections, will he be vouching and dancing on the electoral bill? So, you already have the indication of what is ahead. If morning shows the day, what we are seeing is not a preparation to free and fair election,
“If you look at their record in Osun and Ekiti States; Osun State election was practically stolen. So, you don’t give that kind of person the benefit of the doubt.
“At their presidential primary, APC claimed that 14 million voters voted for him. So, you can see that they have already given you work to the answer. If 14 million people can vote for you in a primary, you are already home and dry. That is what they are telling you. It is being pre-rigged, the mentality is being fostered, which is a lie,
“There is no basis for that. We hope for it (free and fair election). We hope for the best, we prepare for the worst,” he said.

Asked if the PDP would subscribe to the postponement of elections in the North- east in view of the worsening security situation , Osuntokun said: “You could only give a benefit of the doubt for a government that has demonstrated good faith, not the one that has done the contrary.”
According to him, “If you are already giving indications regardless of security situations in the North-east that you want to manipulate the election one way or the other, nobody will accept this from you.”

He noted that it was the responsibility of the government to secure the country at all times, including during elections.
He noted that the allegation that the PDP administration mismanaged the country for 16 years was the propaganda of the APC.
“This president has commissioned three projects that were fully paid for by the Jonathan administration before he left; the Abuja-Kaduna railway, the Port Harcourt Airport, and the Abuja Airport. The only part played by this president is only commissioning. But you will never hear this from them,” he said.

He pointed out that the Buhari administration has been rated by all international corruption rating agencies as worse than the previous government.
Meanwhile, the PDP’s Presidential Campaign Organisation has described President Buhari’s 2019 New Year speech as pathetically empty and an indication that he has finally given up, following his irredeemable rejection by Nigerians.

The organisation’s Director of Media and Publicity, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement yesterday said any discerning mind could see that Buhari has finally switched into valedictory mode, having realised that Nigerians have seen through the falsehood, lies and deception that have characterised his presidency for almost four years.
He noted that Buhari could not articulate any concrete commitment on any sector of the country, because he has lost projections, having realised that Nigerians are not ready to give him a second term in office.

Ologbondiyan stressed that Buhari has no prospects on security despite the daily killings in the land, adding that even as a Commander-in- Chief, he has no words for the gallant troops daily laying down their lives, fighting insurgents in the North East, saying that he has no soothing word for the victims of bloodlettings in various parts of the country.

He stressed, “Even when he admitted in his message that the turn of the New Year is a time for stock-taking and unfolding of new prospects, Nigerians are invited to note that Mr. President, in his entire speech, could not point to any single achievement he made in the out-going year, neither
could he unfold any development prospect for the New Year.”

“President Buhari had no prospects on our ailing economy. He has no plans for our grossly under-performing power sector; nothing on health, education, agriculture, transportation, commerce and industry. He has nothing on job creation, empowerment of our entrepreneurs, and no blueprint for increased foreign direct investments into our nation.”

“President Buhari said nothing about burning labour issues in the country. He also chose to overlook the ASUU strike that has crippled our tertiary institutions. He has no plans on how to shore up the value of our naira, increase purchasing power of citizens and reduce the high costs of goods and services in our land. “

The party therefore called on Nigerians to rescue the country from Buhari and his cabal by working harder in rallying behind its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who has already articulated practical templates to reposition our nation and return her to the path of good governance, political stability and economic prosperity.