-Maintains Atiku too tired, tainted to assume country's leadership
The presidential campaign council of the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, yesterday took a swipe at both the presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu and that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, saying they were unfit for the country's top job.
A spokesperson to the LP candidate's campaign, Kenneth Okonkwo, who made the comments on Arise News Channel, THISDAY's broadcast arm, noted that both major opponents of the former Anambra governor in next month's general election, lacked the character and competence to lift Nigeria from its current state.
In addition, he argued that both Tinubu and Atiku were physically unfit to shoulder the enormous responsibility that the office of the president demands.
"Have you not seen the difference between a man who is responsible and responsive as a leader who is going to bring transformative and purposeful leadership in Nigeria with a man who shifts all the responsibilities to others?
"Because of course, like I said, Tinubu is incapable of granting any interview. He's incapable of national debate, he is incapable of being the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria," the LP spokesman said of the APC candidate.
Also taking on Atiku during the interview, Okonkwo pointed out that the former Nigerian vice president was too tainted to be saddled with the task of revamping Nigeria.
He recalled the comments made by Atiku's ex-principal, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, pointing out that Obasanjo accurately captured the character of the PDP presidential candidate in his previous public statements.
"When he (Obi) climbs the staircase, he jumps it, telling you he is fit as fiddle, not just that he's going to be a leader, he's going to supervise the people that are working under him.
"That is why it is dangerous to elect a president who cannot even come for a national debate... It's dangerous to bring such a person to the position of leadership and I am talking specifically about Bola Tinubu," he stated.
On Atiku, he added: "I am talking about an octogenarian who cannot climb the staircase and you can see the mess they are already doing. And that is why we are saying that Peter Obi is the only option not just an alternative," Okonkwo stated.
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Speaking on concerns that if Obi is elected president in 2023, his administration will be chaotic because he doesn't have the structure to sustain leadership since he has no national and state lawmakers, Okonkwo said the assertion was baseless.
According to the Obi's spokesman, the structures being bragged about by both Tinubu and Atiku are those of bad leadership which have brought the nation to its knees.
He boasted that Obi would destroy such structures and take the country to a new height of productivity, national unity and security and unrivalled economic growth.
"The structures that the PDP and APC have are structures of criminality, structure of corruption, structure of fuel scarcity, structure of poverty, structure of insecurity and structure of bad leadership.
"So if Obi is part of that structure, you wouldn't see me being a spokesman to him. And that is why he is coming in to destroy such structures. When he was a member of the House of Assembly, he had no members of the House of Assembly. None. But he was able to get everything he wanted approved by the House of Assembly.
"He did not have one member of the House of Assembly when he came in as governor and this is what Obasanjo would describe as a track record of ability and performance.
"What you need to be in control is not having members in the National Assembly as pleasant and as important as it may be. What you need is political will. What you need is strong institutions," he contended.
Okonkwo further attacked the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, saying that although the president may not be directly pilfering the commonwealth, he has not been able to show competence and control over his lieutenants.
