By DAPO FALADE
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, has lost all claims to being called a democrat, saying, “he has violated all tenets of democracy.”
Reacting to a video in which Tinubu called on the people of Edo State to reject the PDP candidate in Saturday’s governorship election, Governor Godwin Obaseki, the party said the former Lagos State governor should leave Obaseki alone and face the woes of his own political party.
The PDP, in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said it was “amused by the amateur video released by the now regional leader of the APC, Senator Bola Tinubu, in which he violated all tenets of democracy by attempting to arrogate to himself supremacy powers, lord over the people of Edo State and dictate their choice of leadership.”
It described as pathetic and derisory that Tinubu claimed to be the leader of all democrats in Nigeria “which obviously he is not, while at the same time violating the fundamental of democracy, which is allowing a people to freely choose their leaders without confrontations with lies, coercion, mudslinging, slanders and beguiling as exhibited in his amateur video.
“It smacks of unpardonable hypocrisy that an individual who claims to be a democrat will at the same time choose to sit in the comfort of his residence to insult the people of Edo State over their manifest choice of Governor Godwin Obaseki as their preferred leader, for another term of four years, due to his sterling democratic qualities and performance in office.”
Ologbondiyan averred that Senator Tinubu cannot be claiming to be a democrat while campaigning for an individual that has already been rejected by the people of Edo State.
He said the concerned individual had been exposed by the former APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, as “a thief, fake pastor, acid bather, a person of questionable character who is only fit for “night meetings” and should not be trusted with the position of the governor of Edo State.
“We know that Asiwaju is desperate to re-launch himself into relevance but can someone who wants the nation to believe that he is a democrat be campaigning alongside self-confessed liar, who has been rejected by his kinsmen and suspended as national chairman of his party, all in the quest to install a stooge in office?
“Asiwaju must be reminded that Edo State is not part of his fiefdom and that the needless sanctimonious pomposity which he displayed in the broadcast will never sway the people.
“This is because Edo State is home to very eminent and exceedingly intelligent personalities including highly revered royal fathers, religious and community leaders, astute public administrators, outstanding politicians and captains of industry, who are not ready to alter their resolve for Governor Obaseki.
“If anything, Asiwaju’s broadcast has again exposed an imperialist agenda against the Edo people, a development that has further strengthened the resolve of the people of Edo State to permanently put an end to political godfatherism, which Asiwaju represents in the Nigerian political firmament.
“Furthermore, without conceding to Asiwaju’s jejune argument, we ask, what contribution to democracy did he found in President Muhammadu Buhari when he presented him, then as General Buhari, to Nigerians ahead of the 2015 presidential election?”
He said Nigerians are gradually seeing through Tinubu’s claims of having fought for democracy as mere myth, adding; “The true heroes of democracy include the founding fathers of our party and the regular people of Nigeria who, unlike most self-acclaimed leaders of democrats, never sneaked out of the shores of our country but stood firm to the very end.
“Our party has severally cautioned Asiwaju Tinubu to steer clear of our candidates and desist from infantile attention seeking in a political dispensation that have moved beyond unnecessary ego trips.
“The people of Edo State have since made up their minds to re-elect Governor Obaseki and APC leaders such as Asiwaju, in their vanity should come to terms with that.”
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