Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubukar, has challenged his All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart, Bola Tinubu, to grant an hour-long television interview to see if he could be articulate and mentally present like the former vice president of the country.
The challenge came after the Tinubu’s camp threw shades at his interview with Arise Television aired on Friday where he made several claims including his refusal to pick Tinubu as his running mate in 2007 which would have made his Action Congress (AC) presidential ticket a single faith ticket.
In debunking Atiku’s claims, Tinubu through his campaign spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, had accused Atiku of being unfit to contest the presidential election because he admitted running a private business when he was a Customs officer.
But in a quick response, Paul Ibe,
Media Adviser to the PDP flagbearer, also said that Atiku violated no Constitution because it did not exist when he served in Customs.
The statement titled, “We challenge Bola Tinubu to take the Hot Seat,” read: “We were rather amused to read the knee jerk response from the Tinubu Campaign Organisation to the wave making interview granted by Waziri Atiku Abubakar to Arise TV on Thursday, July 21, 2022.
“Amusement, because we expected this. Mr. Tinubu has not sat down to do any prolonged interview for obvious reasons. Nigerians have seen him talk in public and can themselves gauge the reason why he is mortified to do so.
“Nevertheless, I will now take the issues in their statement one after the other.
“The Tinubu campaign exposed its gross desperation and vacuousness by citing the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) 1999, to declare Waziri Atiku Abubakar’s stance on engaging in a side business while he was a young custom officer as a breach of the law. It is pertinent to educate the Tinubu Campaign Organisation that Nigeria is not under a military regime and our Constitutions are not retroactive in nature.
Credit: Nigerian Tribune