The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has cautioned the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to join in the smear campaign and alleged unsavoury comments against its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The opposition party said Tinubu, as an elder statesman, should not reduce his pedigree by engaging in what it called indecorous utterances which it said had become the trademark of his party, the All Progressives Congress.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said this in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, while reacting to statements credited to Tinubu, who reportedly boasted that the APC would defeat the PDP and its presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential election.
Tinubu had said the country would not return the PDP which he alleged ran the country badly while in power for 16 years (1999-2015).
He had said whichever venue Atiku chose to meet with his team, whether in “Dubai or in the jungle,” the APC would come out triumphantly.
Tinubu had said, “We don’t fear, whether he is meeting in the jungle, in Dubai or in Abu Dhabi. People are free to meet and strategise in any way they feel, but we are not going back to the illusion of the PDP. It is not possible, Nigerians will not do that.
“We can’t go back to the pit that we inherited for 16 years. They can strategise from anywhere, but a leopard cannot change its skin.”
But the PDP spokesperson said it was regrettable that someone like Tinubu could resort to the use of what he called “indecent language.”
Ologbondiyan said, “It is also instructive to state that a person of Asiwaju status can conduct his political activities without recourse to indecent language that is lacking in respect for a personality such as Atiku, whom Nigerians, across the board, have generally resolved to be their next President.
“For the avoidance of doubt, despite the ludicrous disposition of the APC and its leaders towards the 2019 election campaign, the repositioned PDP and our presidential candidate remain committed to our promise to focus on solutions to the myriad of problems facing our people and transform their lives for the better.
“The PDP therefore cautions Asiwaju Tinubu to redirect the discourse of his party to productive issues instead of this unbridled resort to lies, deception, beguilement, propaganda, smear campaign and uncouth language, which Nigerians now resent.”
Similarly, a former presidential spokesperson of the PDP, Dr Doyin Okupe, has predicted that the PDP will “retire” Tinubu from politics in 2019.
Okupe, said Tinubu’s statement was extremely presumptuous. “I assure Asiwaju that he does not and will not have any serious influence on who will emerge as president after the 2019 elections. He had such opportunity in 2015 but it was wasted on a moribund, unproductive and lacklustre presidency.
“It is a fact that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu had a tremendous influence and did play a significant role in the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. This was due to the fact that he and the APC were able to successfully hoodwink the Nigerian electorate into wrongly believing that the incumbent at that time was weak, inept and clueless.
“The prevailing feeling in Nigeria then was that a change was necessary to “save” the country. However, things are quite different now. Without prompting, propaganda or mass-brainwashing, Nigerians have come to realise that a victory for Buhari in 2019 is an existential threat not only to the peaceful coexistence of the nation, but also to individual well-being and survival of families, breadwinners and jobs across the country.”