By Clifford Ndujihe & Omeiza Ajayi, LAGOS

The Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has berated Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, over his comments that Nigeria would break up if Tinubu wins the 2023 presidential poll.

Describing the statement as “abhorrent and “a study in sheer hypocrisy,” the Tinubu’Shettima PCC said Obaseki had shown that he was one of those misleading the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and edging the opposition party to electoral doom.

However, Obaseki, who restated his stand, said APC’s “gang of hirelings, including a once-upon-a-time human rights activist, continue to pollute the public space with their foul and distasteful takes,” over his comment while failing to properly read the room to know that he spoke “the mind of the majority of Nigerians who had in the last seven years been impoverished by the APC’s disastrous misrule.”

Obaseki reckless for wishing Nigeria’ll break up if APC wins – Tinubu

In a statement by Mr. Festus Keyamo, director of Public Affairs and chief spokesperson, the Tinubu/Shettima PCC said: “We read with utter amusement the outburst of the Governor of Edo State claiming Nigeria will break up if the APC wins the Presidential election.

This is coming from a Governor who turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the outrageous and divisive statement made by his presidential candidate in Kaduna a few days ago calling for Northerners not to vote for Yoruba or Igbo candidates. This is also coming from a Governor who has so far callously, heartlessly, and undemocratically “broken up” his own State by denying many constituencies of adequate representation in the Edo State House of Assembly by denying the members of their right to take their seats, even though the members were duly elected. 

“By making this abhorrent statement, Obaseki has clearly shown that he must be one of the elements within his Party not only misleading his candidate and party but also enabling them towards inevitable electoral doom. This is to our delight, but we worry that if elected, they will inflict the same divisive spirit on our country as a whole. 

“It is little wonder then, that his exit from the APC to the PDP was a signal of peace within the APC and the beginning of the unending crises within the PDP. It reminds us of the story of the Biblical Satan whose expulsion from heaven restored peace to that realm and pronounced woe upon the earth. Obaseki and his cohorts, like Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, obviously sold their souls for the Biblical pot of porridge by violating the zoning principles in their own constitution, thereby causing the present implosion within their party – an implosion that he now wishes to project on the country. Compare that to the historical stance of the APC Northern Governors who insisted on the unity of this country by rejecting power offered to them on a platter of gold, but rather insisted on power shift to the South to keep this country together. 

“We are shocked by the shallowness of thinking, the sheer temerity, and the obfuscating arrogance that pushed Governor Godwin Obaseki to make such an outrageous statement against the APC. We call on Governor Obaseki to apologize to the people of Edo State, to the people of the Southern region, and to Nigerians as a whole for making such an insensitive and reckless statement in the face of PDP’s insensitivity to the principle of power rotation in the country.”

APC needs psychiatric evaluation – Obaseki

Countering, Governor Obaseki, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media Projects, Mr Crusoe Osagie, said: “Nigerians must by any means necessary stop the APC at the ballot from getting to Aso Rock to prevent the unfortunate descent to a failed state.”

According to him, the “APC and its minions are either living in another planet or require psychiatric evaluation over their attempt to fault Governor Godwin Obaseki’s factual and honest assessment of the state of the nation and the dreadful fate that awaits Nigerians should the party somehow find their way to the Aso Rock Villa in 2023.

“The party’s gang of hirelings, including a once-upon-a-time human rights activist continue to pollute the public space with their foul and distasteful takes on the governor’s comment while failing to properly read the room to know that the Governor spoke the mind of majority of Nigerians who have in the last seven years been impoverished by the APC’s disastrous misrule.

“What part of the call for reawakening by Governor Obaseki is the APC and their minions calling to question? Are Nigerians not victims of the party’s calamitous handling of the country’s affairs, which has today made the country the poverty capital of the world, with a disarticulated economy, excruciating debt burden and a hapless population pushing their way through insecure communities, dilapidated road network, among other failings.

“When in April 2021, Governor Obaseki raised the alarm that the Federal Government was printing money to run the economy and warned that if such practices continued, the Naira was heading to N1000 to $1 as against the rate of N500 to $1 at that time, APC and their lackeys screamed blue murder, playing the ostrich and denying the obvious. But today, what does $1 exchange against the Naira? Is N800 to $1 not equivalent to the warning the governor issued about a year ago?

“The inflation rate is at an all-time high and the price of staples such as rice, which sold for about N8000 for a 50kg bag during the PDP era today hovers around N40,000 to N45,000 for the same quantity, and is out of reach of the country’s poor masses. The failure of the APC to guarantee oil production has left the country’s finances in dire straits. Under the APC-led government, Nigeria has been incapable of selling crude oil in the international market because of its inability to curb crude theft. The country is now almost missing in the international oil market as a result of the party’s mishandling of Nigeria’s oil assets…

“We know that Keyamo has spent too much time on the dining table with the APC government of the day, feasting and fattening. He is now totally deaf to the plight of the people, who he once pretended to defend as a human rights activist. We want to remind him that not everyone has been stunned into insensitivity by largesse as has been his case.”

VANGUARD