National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Adams Oshiomhole has said the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar is working for foreign interests.
Speaking at the APC presidential campaign at the Abakaliki Township Stadium in Ebonyi state, Oshiomhole said Atiku, who wrote letters to United Kingdom, United States of America and the European Union was appealing to western sentiments angling to take over the country’s economy.
“The right to defend Nigeria’s sovereignty is not negotiable,” the APC party chairman said.
He said the romance between Atiku and western interests would only injure the country’s economy and pauperise the people.
He said no external force can impose leaders on Nigeria.
The APC national chairman called on the electorate not to vote for Atiku, saying the forthcoming elections is a class war between the elite and the poor.
He said the policies and programmes of the present administration including the TraderMoni are pro-poor despite complaints from former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“I have seen Atiku writing letters and when you read newspaper headlines you will think that there are serious criminal breaches allegedly committed by the president. When you read it you see the frustration of a man who is consumed by what anybody can refer to as inordinate ambition to become president and that ambition had made him to fight his boss when he wanted to deny Obasanjo even the right to do second term.
“When he failed he went to ACN like a nomadic politician, he contested he lost. He migrated back to PDP, he tried again he lost, he migrated back to APC, he tried the primaries, we rejected him, he migrated back to PDP. Those are indicators of an unstable mind and of unstable character, a man who believes in nothing other than seeking power.
“I want Nigerians to know when Atiku is emphasising that he will privatise NNPC even if they will kill him, there are two questions to ask him: even if who will kill him? Who has been killed before for privatisation of anything?
“The truth is Atiku is appealing to Western sentiments who want to regain control and take control of the economy of Nigeria for which everybody knows that NNPC is the official manager of our oil revenue, our oil resources to hand over…
“He cannot hand it over to the poor people in Ebonyi state. He is not going to hand it over to poor generals like Mr. President, he is not handing it over to poor senators. He can only hand it over to Western vipers. And that he started saying this after he has traveled in and out shows that he is speaking to the West.
“I want Nigerians to understand the language which Atiku cautiously chooses when he says he is going to float the naira. That language is highest sentiment. The western world believes that to keep us perpetually poor, they most impose on us their own preferred economic policies.
“We are an independent nation. The right to determine our policies are non-negotiable. We welcome friends but we will not welcome interference, we will not welcome dictatorship, we will not welcome anyone whose interest is to subject us to a sense of policies that will further pauperise our people,” he said.
Also speaking, chairman of the APC in Ebonyi state, Mr. Eze Nwachukwu Eze, said Governor David Umahi’s administration was a total failure
He said the president must resist the temptation of believing the governor’s sweet talks that he would support his re-election.
Addressing the gathering, APC governorship candidate in the state, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji, said Ebonyi would deliver total votes for the party.
“We are resolved to lead the state to prosperity and advancement. It has been in the wrong hands since 2015. Our state has dined with maladministration since 2015 and will die except we rescue it now,” he said.
On Obasanjo
Also addressing a similar rally in Calabar, Cross River state, Comrade Oshiomhole said former President Obasanjo should be punished by the country for ceding Nigeria’s territory to Cameroon in quest for Nobel Prize for Peace.
Inviting President Buhari to deliver his speech at the gathering, Oshiomhole knocked Obasanjo for ceding Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon.
He said: “I want to remind the people of Cross River state that never, ever can you afford to forget a Nigerian leader in the person of former President Olusegun Obasanjo who ceded part of Cross River state to Cameroon because he was pursuing a Nobel Prize for Peace Award.
“He handed over Nigerian territory to foreign country and reduced Nigerians to become refugees. The lady that presented a gift to Mr. President has no home; Obasanjo ceded her community to Cameroon.
“There is no statesman in the world that will voluntarily cede parts of his territory to another country just because he needed noble peace prize award. If we are too weak to punish him, history will punish him.
“We cannot forget someone who separated families, those who give the Nobel Peace Prize Award don’t give it to traitors, they give it to people who had worked hard, not for traitors, not for opportunists and not for those who bastardised their fatherland.”
PDP raises the alarm
But the PDP has said the ruling APC should be held responsible for alleged plots to scuttle the conduct of the 2019 polls.
PDP National Publicity Secretary Kola Ologbondiyan yesterday said the party’s stance was predicated on the revelation by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major-General Babagana Monguno that “some individuals that are not certain of their fate in the elections are plotting to precipitate widespread violence aimed at scuttling the conduct of the polls.”
The statement reads: “By every evidence and material facts, the political party and candidate that are not certain of their fate in the election have proven to be the APC and its presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, who have continued to exhibit acts of frustration over fear of imminent electoral loss.
“We are all witnesses to the series of warnings to the Buhari Presidency, from prominent Nigerian citizens and topmost members of the international community, including the United States, United Kingdom, the United Nations, and the European Union, against actions that are inimical to the smooth conduct of the general elections.
“It is instructive to note that instead of heeding this warning, the Buhari Presidency and the APC in their arrogance and desperation, resorted to blackmailing and vilifying the international community, thereby further confirming that they are not ready for a peaceful, free and fair election.
“Except the NSA is addressing facts known to Nigerians that as a result of losses already suffered by the APC on account of court judgments stopping it from participating in the elections in some states, due to its flawed primaries, some desperate leaders and members of the ruling party are making discreet arrangements to scuttle the polls.
“This is in addition to APC’s frustration over the soaring popularity of the people’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, among Nigerians across the board, who have come to a consensus to elect him as the next president of our country, come February, 16, 2019.
“For the majority of Nigerians, particularly members of the PDP and our teeming supporters across our nation, the successful conduct of the February 16, 2019 Presidential election is a paramount desire that must be actualized.
“Nigerians are eager to go to the polls to vote out this administration that has caused them so much anguish, pain, hunger, economic deprivation, sectional acrimony and deaths and this is the reason the APC is seeking all ways to scuttle the elections.”
NBC
Meanwhile, the National Broadcast Commission has said both the ruling APC and PDP are guilty of hate speech in their campaigns.
“We monitor live rallies and campaigns of the parties, and in recent times, live political rallies of the two parties have been laced with indecent and abusive languages, name calling, allegations and use of hate speech,”, NBC Director-General Modibbo Ish’aq Kawu has said.
He said both the Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole-led All Progressives Congress and the Prince Uche Secondus-led opposition Peoples Democratic Party were also guilty of indecent and abusive language on the airwave.
Kawu disclosed this while briefing journalists on next month’s elections and update on the digital switchover yesterday in Abuja.
He said broadcast stations should be conscious of the code guiding political broadcasting; warning that the Commission would shut down any station found contravening the NBC code.
Section 525 of the NBC code states that “Political broadcast shall be in decent languages” while section 533 states that “a live coverage shall be truthful, decent, fair and balanced.”
He said from the NBC monitored the rallies aired by some television stations in the country and found the comments made by some officials of the two leading political parties as capable of causing chaos in the country.
He said: “With the commencement of electioneering campaigns for the 2019 general elections on the 18th of November based on INEC’s guidelines, the national stations have become agog with sponsored rallies by political parties, particularly the two main political parties – the PDP and the APC.
“We have observed again, through monitoring of the stations that politicians have refused to learn from the mistakes of the past despite efforts by the commission to sensitise and remind them of their responsibilities.
“We monitor live rallies and campaigns of the parties and in recent times, live political rallies of the two parties have been laced with indecent and abusive languages, name calling, allegations and use of hate speech.
“The expressions and languages from the excerpt captured can be seen to be abusive and not decent for broadcast, contrary to certain sections of the Nigeria Broadcasting Codes – 525, 533. 525 which says ‘political broadcast shall be in decent languages and 533 says ‘a live coverage shall be truthful, decent, fair and balanced.’
“We are not getting that and we told our licensees that it is very good to make a lot of money during this period but you will be liable if you allow your medium to be used to broadcast material that is contrary to the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.
“Based on the foregoing, the four major channels that have been broadcasting, were culpable and contravening the provisions of the code on political broadcasting in line with the provisions of Section 524 of the code.”
