The spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council, Festus Keyamo, has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential Atiku Abubakar is the least candidate out of the three leading presidential candidates in terms of capacity to make decisions.
While appearing on ‘Politics Today’, a political programme on Channels TV on Friday, Keyamo said the former vice president has never held any executive position where the buck stops with him, whereas, the candidate of his party, Bola Tinubu, and their Labour Party opponent, Peter Obi, are ahead because of their experiences as former governors of Lagos and Anambra states, respectively.
Keyamo, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, said Mr Obi is “ahead of him (Mr Atiku) in terms of capacity to make decisions. So how are we going to hand the country to somebody who has never held a position—who has never shown capacity where he makes the final call. Atiku Abubakar is not tested, he is not trusted. He has never held such a position, even Obi is ahead of him.”
“The major rival we have today has never held an executive position where he makes the final call in government. So, we cannot second guess—Atiku Abubakar has never held an executive position where he made the final call; he was the vice president, he was not the chief executive, he was never governor, he was never anything. Even Peter Obi is ahead of Atiku Abubakar,” he said.
Atiku was elected the governor of Adamawa State in 1998 before he was tapped by former President Olusegun Obasanjo as his running mate. He was elected as the Nigerian Vice-President and served in that capacity for two terms. In 2007, he ran for the president on the platform of the Action Congress, a party that was then under Mr Tinubu’s control. Mr Tinubu campaigned for him across the country, although, he came third in the election.
Keyamo also defended the record of this administration on the economy.
He claimed that Nigeria has done better in terms of managing inflation than some advanced economies like the US, Canada, Spain and Germany.
According to the minister, those countries have experienced a higher percentage rise in inflation rate than Nigeria. He added that the opposition cannot campaign on the prices of commodities without putting it from a global perspective.
