Interviews & Debates: Atiku, Tinubu media aides trade words

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has refused to make himself available for debates and interviews because he had many things to hide, Phrank Shaibu, Special Assistant (Public Communication) to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said on Sunday.

According to him, Tinubu’s refusal to “open himself up for scrutiny but continues to evade debates, non-partisan town hall meetings and live interviews”, has exemplified the biblical theory that, “the wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.”

Shaibu made his position known in a statement titled, “Reveal your real name, background, Atiku campaign dares Tinubu.”

The statement read, “Atiku Abubakar’s history has never been in doubt. His father was Garba Abubakar, a Fulani trader and farmer while Atiku’s mother was Aisha Kande. Atiku was named after his paternal grandfather Atiku Abdulqadir who hails from Wurno, Sokoto State and migrated to Kojoli village at Jada, Adamawa State. His maternal grandfather was Inuwa Dutse who migrated to Jada, Adamawa State from Dutse, Jigawa State.

“Where is Tinubu from? Who are his parents? Who was Tinubu’s father? What was his name? What is Tinubu’s full name? Is it Bolatito, Omobolanle, Abolaji, Bolarinwa?

“While it is not uncommon for leaders to use a short version of their names, most times, for stylistic rendition, the full outlay of their names is nonetheless public knowledge.

“In the Second Republic, such names as Bisi Onabanjo, Bola Ige, Bisi Akande and many more from the Southwest region are brand names of great political icons. But even as it were, everyone knew that the Governor of Ogun State in the Second Republic was known in full as Olabisi Onabanjo, ditto for Ajibola Ige and the rest of such examples.

“However, it is confounding that in the case of the APC presidential candidate, he is simply known as Bola Tinubu. No one knows the prefix or suffix to his ‘Bola.’”

Tinubu’s aide, Bayo Onanuga, fires back

The All Progressives Congress (APC) says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is bringing up allegations against Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, because of his popularity.

Mr Bayo Onanuga, Director, Media and Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), said this in a statement he released on Sunday in Abuja.

He said that the PDP had realised that Tinubu’s sure victory in the February 25, 2023 presidential election was inevitable.

Onanuga was reacting to a recent allegation against Tinubu by Mr Phrank Shaibu, the Special Media Assistant to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate.

“In another puerile move, Shuaibu challenged our candidate (Tinubu) to give his full name and went on a journey of fantasy about his early education and parentage,” Onanuga noted

He said such matters had already been thrown into the dustbin decades ago.

Onanuga added that the APC PCC was, however, not surprised that the desperate Atiku Camp, faced with mounting setbacks in its campaign, would engage in another round of mudslinging.

This, he said, was especially after it failed to make any capital over its amplified allegation of drug dealings against the APC presidential candidate.

“This latest allegation, we must say, is another attempt at shadowboxing, Onanuga stated.

He added that having failed to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians on its 16 years of “infamous governance“ , the PDP had just woken up to realise that Tinubu’s victory in the February 25, 2023 presidential election was inevitable.

“It is this that had led to the desperate resort to character assassination and innuendoes,” the APC PCC Director of Media and Publicity said.

Onanuga said that if only the PDP would go back to its records, it would have realised that the same campaign of reckless calumny was its stock in trade in the governorship campaigns in Lagos State in 2003.

He said this had also been a subject of investigation by the Lagos State House of Assembly.

He recalled that in the 2003 elections, the masses in Lagos voted against the PDP for its malicious campaign and rejected it at the polls.

Onanuga said it was unfortunate that the PDP and its presidential candidate had chosen to revive a dead allegation, knowing that the coming election was again slipping away.

“We, however, sympathise with Atiku and his mudslinging agents, we know why they are lashing on every straw available. They are seized with fear that the election is once again lost.

“With the massive turnout of the Nigerians to welcome Tinubu in Kaduna, Minna, Abuja and other parts of the country in the last one week, it is obvious that they are running after a train that has left the station.

“The (Nigerian) constitution is very clear on the rights of a citizen to contest for president, our candidate has fulfilled those conditions.

“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the impartial umpire, has affirmed that he is qualified to run.

“But the PDP and Atiku are utterly confused and in serious disarray and running round in circus like a barber’s chair looking for what is not lost,” Onanuga said.

He said that a responsible party should have taken the cue from its losses.

He said in the last two weeks, no fewer than six cases filed by proxies of the PDP on these same frivolous allegations had been thrown out by the courts.

“Yet like a fly that insists on being buried with the corpse, the media handlers of the PDP prefer to flog a dead horse.

“The over 93 million registered voters, who will vote in the 2023 elections, have the intellect to choose who they want as president.

“That man is Asiwaju  Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Yes, that is his name.

“The PDP should wait for its day of judgment rather than engage in this obscurantist, diversionary game, a game that will be determined by the Nigerian masses,“ Onanuga said.