The Presidential Aspirant of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has responded to the comment made by the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, while campaigning in Kano, where declared that “PDP brought shame to Nigeria.”
In a statement Bayo Onanuga, Director, Media & Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Tinubu maintained that Ayu’s verdict on his own party should not be seen as a mere slip of the tongue.
“It was truly an articulation of the inner mind of the former academic and senate president, a self-admission of the egregious failures of the party when it was in charge of our country for 16 years.
“Ayu’s viral statement that “PDP has brought us shame and we will not retain them in power”, concurs with the general verdict that the party failed the country and its people and should never be given a chance to return to power.
“One of the recent reminders of the failure of the umbrella party was the Ajaokuta Steel Complex. The party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar as head of the Obasanjo era privatisation programme, granted Global Steel a concession in 2004 to take over the company.
Another PDP government cancelled the concession when it found out that it was a mess. Global Steel took the Nigerian government to court and demanded $7 billion compensation, even though it failed to fulfill the terms of the concession by making Ajaokuta a reality.
“The case lingered for 12 years until the APC administration of President Muhammadu Buhari stepped in. Global Steel agreed to end its legal battle and walk away with $496 million of Nigeria’s money,” the statement read in part.
Tinubu said the President Buhari government, which has been clearing many messes left by the successive PDP administration, made a bulk payment of $250 million and agreed to pay the balance in five installments. He explained that to date, Buhari has paid a total of $446 million out of the $496 million, and will make the last payment of $50 million next month and Ajaokuta will revert fully to the country and allow the implementation of the government’s plan, including Russian intervention, to make the company operational.
Without showing any remorse and shame, he said Atiku Abubakar recently went to Kogi State, the home of the unfortunate Steel Company to make another empty promise of reviving the company.
“Atiku probably wanted to cash in on the short memory of our people as his party has been going about with the conman campaign of recovering Nigeria, when it created, in the first place, the monumental damage that the APC government has been struggling to fix for almost eight years.
“While in charge of Nigeria, the PDP also left our national infrastructure, roads, rail, and airports derelict. Notably, Atiku and his boss, Obasanjo failed to deliver on vital road networks, including roads to their towns. The APC government of President Buhari has now done the road to Atiku’s town in Jada, Adamawa State.
“Worst of all and most callously, the PDP shared the $2.1 billion meant to procure arms to fight Boko Haram insurgency, making our soldiers vulnerable to the superior weaponry of the enemies of the state and allowing insecurity to fester,” Tinubu fired.
“In the coming elections, Nigerians should never make the error of allowing this discredited party smells the scent of power. Iyorchia’s PDP has not learnt any lesson and has not changed its behaviour. The Nigerian voters should simply consign it to the dustbin of history, while keeping faith with the APC, which offers Renewed Hope,” Tinubu fired.
