The Peoples Democratic Party has said the prayer of the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the party is “prophetic”.
The PDP stated this in a press statement signed on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba.
In what appeared to be a Freudian slip, Tinubu during the kick-off of his presidential campaign held at Rwang Pam Township Stadium in Jos, Plateau State on Tuesday, said “God bless PD… APC”.
But reacting to the slip in the statement titled, ‘Tinubu’s Prayers, “God Bless PDP” Prophetic -PDP’, the opposition party said the prayer of Tinubu for God’s blessing in PDP further confirms his innermost conviction that the party represents the hope and aspiration of the majority of Nigerians for a secure, prosperous future under a united country.
The statement read in part, “The fact that Asiwaju Tinubu made the prayer during his flopped Presidential Campaign Flag-off in Jos, Plateau State is a pointer that it was not a slip of tongue but a divine proclamation that the hope for Nigeria, which he harped on can only come from the PDP.
“It is instructive to note that the APC Presidential Candidate had earlier in his address, admitted that Nigerians were “in distress” under his failed APC but that hope is on the way.”
Ologunagba said, since Tinubu’s prophetic blessing on the PDP, they have been receiving flurries of calls, solidarity messages and visits from key members of the APC, who believed that his prayer was a divine act of God to point the nation to the right direction.
“It is apparent that Asiwaju Tinubu was speaking under the ostensible weight of the recent revelation of his indictment for narcotic trafficking which has become a huge burden from which he cannot extricate himself and for which he has lost all moral and legitimate capacity to occupy the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”, he added.
Ologunagba pointed out that Tinubu’s incoherence and inability to offer a concrete message to Nigerians at the Flag-off of his campaign was a sign of his ineligibility as president of the country.
He said, “It was pathetic as Nigerians watched with pity as the APC Presidential Candidate who is dazed by the intimidating credentials and popularity of the PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, could not articulate any solution to the myriad of problems brought upon our nation by the failed APC which he boasted of having installed and superintends over as national leader.
“Asiwaju Tinubu could not proffer any solution or idea to the challenges of insecurity, disunity, unabated killings, rising unemployment, tumbling Naira, collapsing economy with unprecedented debts of over N40 trillion arising from somersaulting macro-economic policies of his failed and corrupt APC government.
“The PDP counsels the APC to note that Nigerians are not ready to listen to a Presidential candidate like Asiwaju Tinubu, who continues to engage in insults, vituperations and uncontrolled outburst rather than focus on issue-based campaign.
“The APC Presidential Candidate should be more concerned with his narcotic indictment and inconsistencies in his personal biodata of name, age, ancestry, education and record of work which Nigerians have the right to know.
“Having prayed for the PDP as the hope of the nation, Nigerians expect Asiwaju Tinubu to have the courage to admit the fact that is already in the public domain, apologize to the nation and withdraw from the race”.