With less than 50 days to the presidential election, the standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, on Saturday, took a swipe at his co-contender in the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, over his antecedents.
Amid some criticism, Obi has remained unapologetic about his efforts to shore up the state coffers before his exit as Anambra governor in 2014. According to his party’s governorship candidate in Abia State, Alex Otti, the state had $155 million in its coffers upon Obi’s exit.
However, Tinubu took issue with Obi’s approach to using the resources available to the state to empower the people.
While campaigning in Akure, the Ondo State capital, he shared his Renewed Hope agenda with the crowd of supporters before telling them that “these things do not come by accident.”
The APC candidate said his vision for the country can only be harvested by progressive and democratic governance, which according to him Obi cannot do.
“He [Obi] cares little that his policies and actions have a chance to show how progressive he could be when he was the governor of Anambra State. All he could do was boast that he saved money – I don’t know how much.
“But I tell you, it is a wicked parent like Obi, given the opportunity to feed his children, invest in tomorrow on their behalf and hold money in his hands while the children starve and go to bed hungry. That is Obi wickedness,” he said.
According to him, only a “heartless governor” would hold onto money despite hungry schoolchildren, and roads and clinics in a state of disrepair. In the view of the former Lagos governor, neither the city dweller nor the farmer prospers at such a time.
“In the end, he refused to save the people because he preferred to save the money and he claimed to be a party labour (sic). Is that labour? You will have to be labouring under a terrible delusion if you think he will do a better job for this nation than he did for Anambra State.
“What is there to be proud of? After Obi left, Obi has nothing to be proud of. Instead, Obi moved, left Anambra crying. He moved to Lagos. Obi… Obi…. Import and export. Warehouse economist. Obi, why did you do that?
“You now ran away to Labour. What kind of Labour? It means you have no understanding of what it means. When they talk of dignity of labour, instead [of him] to save the people, instead he saved the money. I am indeed very sorry,” he said.
‘Don’t Sell Your Birthright’
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, was not left out of Tinubu’s attacks. The latter took aim at the former Vice President over his plans to privatise a slew of government-owned institutions and facilities.
“He [Atiku] doesn’t want to do the brain and hard work required to build a better nation. Instead, he would rather sell your birthright to the highest bidder and his cronies, and run off with the proceeds,” Tinubu said.
“The truth of the difference between my leadership and that of Mr Obi lies in one observation. My people, you cannot entrust your future or that of our nation to Mr Sell-Everything-Atiku or the stingy Mr Obi.
“For God’s sake, what has Atiku brought home? He will dispose of our refineries. He did sell our ALSCON. He sold all of it. Where is the money? Where is our return? Where is a produce that we get back?”
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