BUHARI, RIBADU ARE HYPOCRITES- JONATHAN CAMPAIGN

President will win, says Niboro || In a response to Friday’s presidential debate on NN24, the campaign organisation of President Goodluck Jonathan has dismissed the anti-corruption posture of the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General Muhammadu Buhari, and that of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, as hypocritical and self- serving.

During the debate broadcast live on network television, which was boycotted by Jonathan, both Buhari and Ribadu faulted the approach of the PDP to the fight against corruption. The CPC flag-bearer threatened to probe the multi-billion-dollar power project of the federal government which, he said, has had little or no impact on power supply. The duo accused the PDP government of mal-administration.

But the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), which was last month inaugurated by the national secretariat of the PDP, warned both candidates to desist from selling the wrong images of themselves, stating that evidences of their blunders and unwholesome conducts while in positions of authority existed – evidences which, it said, portray them as opposites of what they are now claiming to be.

The campaign council charged Buhari and Ribadu to limit their campaign promises to the manifestoes of their respective political parties and their personal agenda for the country rather than portray themselves as apostles of anti-corruption.

In a statement issued in Abuja and signed by the director of research and strategy, Mr Mike Omeri, the PCC noted that the antecedents of the two “self-acclaimed anti-corruption stars” have proved that they have had their hands soiled with acts of corruption during their different years in government. It threatened to expose them and match them action-for-action in their avowed commitment to dent the image of President Jonathan with lies that they have been peddling against him.

The statement recalled that, in 1984, General Buhari exhibited double standard in public administration by allowing, through his ADC, 52 suitcases suspected to be filled with hard currency into Nigeria, without passing through the customs checkpoint for the mandatory customs clearance. The event, which happened when the administration was changing naira colours, involved a top-class traditional ruler and diplomat, the PCC said, adding that it was a clear case of money laundering. “And we wonder what moral right such a candidate has to talk about anti-corruption.”

Also, the statement picked on Ribadu over his relationship with former Lagos State governor Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, especially his earlier stance on the ACN financier. The campaign council recalled that, in 2007, while answering questions from the Senate on the alleged acts of corruption by some governors, Ribadu pointedly said that the corruption of the former governor of Lagos State was “of international dimension”. Asked the PCC: “Is it not curious that the same person with such a tag is now the political godfather of Ribadu and sole financier of his political campaigns? To also show Ribadu’s lack of faith in the anti-corruption fight, he recently said, ‘I won’t bother myself with the integrity of politicians that will fund my campaign. I will take corrupt politician’s money for my campaign as far as the money is not put in my pocket.’ What kind of role model is Ribadu and how can Nigerians believe him if he says that he will jail corrupt politicians if he emerges as the country’s president? Ribadu, by such posturing, has given Tinubu a clean bill of health, which is not only hypocritical but evidence that, given the same opportunity, he would not have done better than the governors whom he had indicted.”

Meanwhile, President Jonathan has expressed confidence that he will win a resounding victory in the April 9 election. This is coming after his tour of 36 states of the federation.  In an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, spokesman of the president Ima Niboro said: “I am very confident that the president will win a resounding victory at the polls on April 9. Having just completed a campaign tour of the 36 states of the federation with President Jonathan and personally witnessed the overwhelming outpouring of support, love and affection for him from the thousands of Nigerians that welcomed him at every stop, I am very certain that he will get a fresh mandate and continue in office after May 29 this year.

“My confidence is also backed by the results of a countrywide scientific poll recently conducted by IPSOS, one of the world’s leading polling organisations, in collaboration with ThisDay, which showed that 73% of registered Nigerian voters believe that President Jonathan has performed very creditably in the little time he has spent in office. I am very optimistic that this confidence shown in him by almost three quarters of the Nigerian electorate will be reflected in the coming presidential elections.”

Niboro said, however, that they were certainly not going to rest on their oars. “In spite of our confidence, we are not taking anything for granted and we will continue to campaign at different levels to win all the votes we can until the campaign deadline set by INEC. “Apart from the grand finale of the PDP presidential campaign scheduled to hold in Abuja on March 26, the various state chapters of the party and other voluntary support groups working for the renewal of President Jonathan’s mandate will continue with their efforts to convince every Nigerian that the president is indeed the best candidate in the field.”

Reacting to the spate of violence being witnessed in the country, Niboro said the president has an excellent grasp of the problems underlying violence in these areas and he is tackling them frontally to guarantee the safety of life and property in all parts of the country. “You would have noted that the incidence of kidnapping has more or less died out. That was as a result of the president’s direct and unambiguous intervention in the South-East, Aba in particular, which appeared to be the epicentre of that criminal scourge. Also, in spite of incidents few and far in between, the Niger Delta is largely peaceful today, and the amnesty programme proceeds apace. Jos and Borno remain somewhat of a challenge due to the nature of the problems there, but the president is determined to bring all stakeholders on board to fashion out a lasting peace in those areas.”

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