Tinubu Not Withdrawing from Presidential Race, Says APC Campaign Council

•Berates Obi’s supporters for allegedly circulating hate-filled video

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has denied what it described as false and misleading posts on various social media handles of supporters of the presidential candidate of Labour party,  Mr. Peter Obi that the presidential candidate of APC, Asiwaju Bola  Tinubu was withdrawing from the race on health grounds.

The Spokesperson of the Council, Mr. Festus Keyamo in a statement issued Monday said it was  nothing but a figment of their warped imaginations, insisting that Tinubu is strong, healthy and fit enough for the coming campaigns. 

Keyamo said, “We also wish to use this medium to debunk the false and misleading posts on various social media handles of supporters of Mr. Peter Obi that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is withdrawing from the race on health grounds. 

“This is nothing but a figment of their warped imaginations. Our candidate is strong, healthy and fit enough for the coming campaigns. The opposition will hear loud and clear from him soon.”

Keyamo also berated Obi for allegedly circulating hate-filled video, saying he should quit the race if he has nothing more to tell Nigerians.

He added: “Our attention has been drawn to an offensive, hate-filled video made and circulated by the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, in which he accused an amorphous and non-existent “Tinubu’s Group” of spreading a Whatsapp message calling on the Yoruba not to vote for him.”

The spokesperson noted that purported message, according to  Obi, forewarned the Yoruba that a vote for him would be a vote for a seaport in South/South and South/East. 

The transcript purportedly from Obi, according to Keyamo read: “Yoruba shine your eyes o, if you vote for Peter Obi, it is automatically voting for seaports in South South and South East. The Igbos will stop coming to Lagos State to invest, rather they will go to Delta and Rivers States, they may even stop building houses in Lagos. It will affect a lot of Yorubas. Yoruba ronu o.”

However, Keyamo denied the existence of such a group that made and circulated the message, stressing that groups supporting Tinubu and his running-mate have clear designations with well-known promoters.

The spokesperson stated categorically that  only messages released by the APC Presidential Campaign Council that are officially authorised and for which the council takes responsibility.

The ruling party therefore challenged Obi to reveal the source and name(s) behind that obscure Whatsapp message.

Keyamo added: “We wish to state that it is obvious Mr. Peter Obi deliberately concocted that message and circulated that offensive video himself as a campaign strategy in order to come across as a victim of some kind of ethnic agenda, whereas in truth, he is the real agent provocateur of an ethnic agenda. 

“As the take-off date for campaigns draws closer, Mr. Peter Obi has suddenly realised that Nigerians are beginning to burst his bubbles as his messages are bereft of ideas, depth and clear-cut solutions to our challenges. 

“His messages are only full of false data and highfalutin jargons in what is clearly a disingenuous ruse to distract a scrutiny of his empty records as a Governor of Anambra State and nothing else, hence his easy recourse to playing ethnic card and fanning the ember of hate.

“We have it on good authority that part of the “U.S Strategy” (just like the failed “Dubai Strategy” his former boss and himself adopted in 2019) was to return to the country and spread ethnic hatred amongst the voters and cause chaos, then pose as the victim. They have just kick-started that plot by orchestrating and circulating the said video.”

Keyamo said the APC found  it utterly disgusting, demeaning and insulting to the sensitivities and sensibilities of Nigerians for a presidential candidate of the ilk of Obi to make such a video parroting a spurious, unverified and sham message that has the potential of deepening the country’s fault-lines and further promoting ethnic tensions.

He pointed out that it was completely unbecoming of a presidential candidate that hopes to unite this country. 

Keyamo noted that Obi’s latest stunt was consistent with what is now widely perceived as his adoption of hate as campaign strategy, having consistently failed to rein in his known and identifiable supporters, mostly domiciled on social media, threatening political opponents with violence and death. 

He described Obi as a sectional irredentist, with public records showing him expelling Nigerians from a section of the country from Anambra State while he was Governor and has decidedly resorted to ethno-religious card in his activities and messaging thus far, now accusing his better of being an ethnic champion. 

Keyamo stated: “We are also aware that plans are afoot by Mr. Peter Obi to fake an assassination attempt on himself and hire Labour Party boys dressed in APC caps and T-shirts to attack some Labour Party offices. It is all part of the “U.S Plan”. It is the first in a series of incendiary actions planned by this ill-prepared but desperate candidate.”

The APC, therefore, called on all well-meaning Nigerians, irrespective of ethnic origins or political divides, to rise up and condemn this tactless tactics and cheap manoeuver by a desperate non-starter of a presidential candidate who has decided to resort to crude revisionism, ethnic jingoism and crass insensitivity with a view to whipping up undeserved sentiment to fuel his faltering ambition that is nothing but a flash in a pan.