The presidential candidate of a political party that can not put its house in order is in no position to promise to run a government of national unity if elected.
The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) made this observation in reaction to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar’s social media broadcast tagged: “My New Social Contract for a New Nigeria”.
Atiku had said in that broadcast that the All Progressives Congress(APC) government will be remembered for how it failed to maintain the integrity of our unity, and how it put a knife between the things that hitherto held us together.
BMO, in a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, noted that “Atiku’s claims on the country’s unity is principally an academic marketing coinage that has no relation to the true picture of the country.
“It’s either he is deliberately lying or he is out of tune with reality, hence he is suggesting solutions that are either already being implemented in the country or are far away from the real situation on ground. More than that, there is evidence of deliberate falsehood that runs through the gamut of his presentation.
“For starters, that Nigerians are not united is a figment of his imagination, a fantasy that he wants to impose on the peoples’ psyche. The absolute truth is that Nigeria is well integrated and this is evident in the day-to-day peaceful co-existence of people of different tribes, religions and ethnicities.
“This unity also reflects in political appointments; it has been established that there is balance in the appointment made by this administration.
“In any case, we do not expect Atiku to understand the true situation of things in the country. A mind that has been on self-exile over a long time can only relate with Nigerians with a collection of fanciful thoughts. No wonder there was a disconnect in his media broadcast, a huge gap between what he was saying and the reality on ground which revealed that he does not understand the nuances of Nigeria’s political and economic system”.
With regards to the economy which is one of the areas Atiku spoke about, the pro- Buhari group explained that “from 1999 till date, no leader has taken the country through a globally induced difficult economic environment caused by revenue shortages, imported inflation and other external forces, like President Muhammadu Buhari.
“On the other hand, Atiku was the vice president between 1999 and 2007, a time when the country earned high in revenue and had convenient Capital inflow with nothing tangible to show for it. We challenge the former vice president to point to one legacy infrastructural project that can be credited to his government.
“He also bragged about being part of an economic team during his time in government, but it was under his watch that Nigeria recorded an inflation rate of 28.21%, in August 2005; the highest since 1999 and this was at a time when there was no COVID 19 pandemic, no Ukraine-Russia war and no oil global crisis.
“Furthermore, it is on record that his government sold Aluminium Smelting Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) which was valued at $3.2 billion (N480 billion) to a Russian company, Russel for $250 million (N37.5 billion). Not just that, the staff were retrenched without being paid their entitlements until recently, under the persuasion of the Federal Government. What can be more criminal than this”.
BMO called on the Federal Government to commence a criminal proceeding against Atiku for selling ALSCON at a criminally low value to his friends and cronies like he is promising to do with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC)”.
BMO added that with reference to Atiku’s statement on corruption and ‘unprecedented malfeasance’, “we advice him to wake up in the morning and look in the mirror he would know who is corruption personified”.
