According to Thisday, the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO) Friday alleged that the All Progressives Congress vice presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo had sworn on oath to resign as vice president “in the unlikely event that the party wins the presidential election.”
This, PDPPCO, said would pave the way for the national leader of APC, Bola Tinubu to become the vice president and subsequently become president in view of the perceived health status of the party’s presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
In a related development, the APC yesterday condemned what it described as “the needless resort to sheer hysteria by the PDP and the Jonathan administration over the globally-acclaimed appearance” of Buhari at the Chatham House in London on Thursday.
Also, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai revealed how former president Olusegun Obasanjo wanted Buhari to run under the platform of the PDP instead of late Umaru Yar’Adua in the 2007 Presidential election.
Director of Media and Publicity of the PDPPCO, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode at a crowded press conference in Abuja yesterday alerted the nation to the alleged “sinister plot by the APC to foist an ungodly agenda on the nation in the unlikely event that it wins the March 28 presidential election.”
He said the plot centred on Tinubu emerging as vice president as a prelude to becoming president.
Reading from a text titled: “APC is Selling a Dummy to The Whole World; Tinubu is The Real Candidate”, Fani-Kayode said: “Since the formation of the APC, it has been an open secret that Tinubu is its national leader and also its biggest financier. The question that should agitate every Nigerian is why Tinubu has been investing heavily in the APC presidential project to such a point that he has single-handed produced the joint presidential ticket of Buhari and Osinbajo.
“It should baffle well-meaning Nigerians why Tinubu has decided to draft Buhari, despite his age, acrimonious background and questionable health status, into the presidential race whilst ensuring that his stooge, Osinbajo was foisted on the general as vice presidential candidate.
“The PDPPCO wishes to use this forum to expose the ungodly plan by Tinubu to seize the presidency of Nigeria by subterfuge. You will recall how Tinubu wanted to be the running mate to Buhari in spite of the nationwide resentment for Muslim-Muslim ticket that he and Buhari planned to foist on their party. Tinubu had justified the ticket by saying that competence was the important thing and not the issue of religion.”
Fani-Kayode alleged that when Tinubu and Buhari could not push through the agenda within the APC, he (Tinubu), after being given the opportunity to nominate a vice presidential candidate, decided to prop up his stooge in the person of Osinbajo.
PDPPCO spokesman continued: “Now the real reason Tinubu nominated Osinbajo has been made known to us and we hereby offer a public service to the Nigerian people by drawing national attention to it. Credible pieces of information at our disposal indicate that Tinubu has perfected plans to come to power through the back door.
“Tinubu, according to our information, has compelled Osinbajo to swear to an oath that after six months in office, he would resign as the vice president, in the unlikely event that their party wins. The wicked plot, as laid out by them, is to force Osinbajo to resign for Tinubu to be nominated by Buhari as his replacement.
“The ultimate objective of this plot is to ensure that Tinubu becomes President. The script is simple: given the questionable health of Buhari, Tinubu who is desperate to be president for his own selfish reasons will simply bid his time in the evil expectation that Buhari will not be able to go the whole hog.
“How wicked can those that hatched this plan be? How unfair can they be to the North, to Buhari and to Nigerians? We wish Buhari long life. Tinubu’s dangerous plan is about getting power. This is sad. No thoroughbred Yoruba man or indeed Nigerian wants to get power through the misfortune of another person.
“But this is the perfidious path that Tinubu is passing through. This is repugnant. It will interest you to know that our information is strengthened by the very similar act of resignation which Tinubu had planned to force on Pastor Tunde Bakare which you can all watch now.”
Fani-Kayode played footage on YOUTUBE of Pastor Bakare’s interview where he openly admitted that he refused to sign a resignation letter that would have seen him hand over his vice presidential position had Buhari been successful in his presidential campaign in 2011.
He said further: “Becoming the vice president is not the destination but becoming the president! The agenda of the cabal within the APC is with the perceived health challenges of Buhari. They have told themselves in hushed tones that he has prostate cancer, acute asthma and that he suffers from dementia. This is their assessment and not ours. We do not know how true this is or what the nature of his illness is and neither are we interested. All these allegations of ill-health, to the cabal provide the justification for their evil plan.
“All structures around Buhari are all Tinubu’s structures. All the actors around Buhari that are driving his campaign behind the scenes are all Tinubu’s men. Most of the covert funding for this campaign comes from Tinubu’s friend outside the country and from Tinubu himself.
“So, if he becomes President, Buhari will become virtually incapacitated and he will not be the one running the government. Those behind this plan would now be waiting for Buhari to pass on. That is what Tinubu want to do to the North and to Nigeria.
“We have deemed it fit to let the whole world know why the leadership of the APC is desperate for power and why the cabal controlling the APC is hell bent to ensure that General Buhari becomes president. Our candid advice to Buhari is: Watch Your Back. Our prayer is that God will save Nigeria from desperate politicians.”
El-Rufai: Obasanjo Almost Imposed Buhari on Nigerians…
Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai has revealed how former president Olusegun Obasanjo wanted Buhari to run under the platform of the PDP instead of late Umaru Yar’Adua in the 2007 presidential election.
El-Rufai who spoke in London yesterday said Obasanjo almost achieved his plan when he asked him (el-Rufai) and the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu to approach Buhari and convince him to join the PDP, a deal Buhari turned down.
El-Rufai said that Obasanjo, who was at that time vigorously searching for a successor wanted Buhari by all means.
The former minister said he never had anything to do with Buhari, not until in 2005 when Obasanjo asked him to liaise with Buhari and open talks with him ostensibly to mend some fences first.
He said another occasion he met with Buhari was when he and Ribadu went to him to discuss how he could succeed Obasanjo as Obasanjo did not want to handover to Atiku.
El-Rufai said when they told Buhari their intention; Buhari told them that he had to consult with his political associates because he was not in the race alone.
“Later, Buhari told us that he was not interested,” el-Rufai said.
