In spite of the warning by the National Peace Commission (NPC) that political parties and their presidential candidates should stop overheating the polity and generating tension in the country, the verbal attacks and mudslinging has continued unabated.
The peace committee had on Friday subjected the presidential candidates and their political parties to a fresh commitment to the peace pact they earlier signed ahead of the 2023 general polls.
Co-chairman of the peace committee and former head of state, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, had during a one-day roundtable meeting of the peace committee with the leadership of the nation's 18 registered political parties and their presidential candidates told the politicians to restrain their utterances in order not to incite violence in the coming general election.
But barely 48 hours after the intervention of the peace committee, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign organisation and the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council resumed the ad hominem attacks.
It started yesterday when the PDP campaign team demanded the arrest and persecution of the APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, over alleged drug trafficking and siphoning of state funds.
The PDP campaign called on the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to immediately initiate Tinubu's arrest and prosecution.
But in a swift response, the APC campaign team said it was certain that "the characters who still parade themselves as his (Atiku's) spokespersons have lost their minds."
This, the Tiunubu camp noted, is the reason why "they think Nigerians can be swayed by all their deliberate falsehoods and the lies they manufacture everyday against Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to deceive the public, when they should all be remorseful for the legendary corruption of their boss."
Earlier on Sunday, the PDP presidential campaign asked the NDLEA to call Tinubu for questioning over the deal which led to him forfeiting $460, 000 to US authorities.
The PDP campaign made the call at a media briefing by the director, Strategic Communication, Bashorun Dele Momodu; media adviser to Atiku Abubakar; Paul Ibe; spokesperson of the presidential campaign council; Daniel Bwala, and special assistant, Public Communication to Atiku, Phrank Shaibu.
Bwala specifically condemned what he alleged to be the setting up of a group by Tinubu which he described as a militia, just as he asked the security agencies to arrest and prosecute any person that functions in that capacity.
He added that many opposition members have been getting threats ahead of the election.
Corroborating Bwala's position, another spokesman for the PDP campaign Phrank Shaibu, also alleged that Tinubu was still involved in illegal drug related business as recently as 2015.
He added that Tinubu transferred 4.3million US dollars to a briefcase company based in Colombia.
He said, "It is no longer news that Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has direct ties to drug lords and was used as a conduit pipe to launder their funds.
"Court records show that Nigerian drug kingpin, Adegboyega Muiz Akande, ran an elaborate network of heroin traffickers in Chicago, Illinois, in the 1980s.
"This investigation has revealed the identity of other individuals including relatives who have worked for Akande with various duties in the distribution organisation. One of these individuals has been identified by the investigation as Bola Tinubu," said Kevin Moss, a special agent with the Inland Revenue Service.
"Court records showed that Akande took Tinubu to First Heritage Bank where he opened an account for himself and his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, in 1989. Tinubu revealed in documents that he worked with Mobil Nigeria Limited and his salary was $2,400 and he had no other sources of income whatsoever.
"But records from his First Heritage Bank account showed that in 1990, Tinubu deposited $661,000 into his individual money market account and in 1991 deposited $1,216,500 into the same money market account. Mobil representatives told US authorities that even though Tinubu was a treasurer, he had no direct access to the company's cash and thus could not deposit funds on behalf of the firm.
"Tinubu, the political Maradona, quickly entered into an agreement with US authorities and forfeited $460,000 in order to avoid jail before running back to Nigeria. But this has not changed the fact that he was in cahoots with drug dealers and was their bagman.
"Nigerian law is clear. Criminal cases have no statute of limitation and can be re-opened at any time, especially for the sake of national interest. We hereby call on the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to immediately arrest Bola Ahmed Tinubu and prosecute him for drug trafficking."
Atiku Is Unfit To Govern Nigeria, APC Campaign Hits Back
Firing back at the PDP, the APC presidential campaign council insisted that Atiku is not fit to be president of Nigeria because he has shown that he cannot be trusted.
In a statement issued by its director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, the APC presidential campaign council noted that if Atiku becomes president he could be an easy target for compromise against national interest.
Onanuga regretted that PDP and Atiku have obviously not recovered from the bombshell released last week by the APC campaign council, "which questioned the morality of the candidate to remain in the race, following his own damaging self-confession".
He recalled that at a press conference in Abuja last Monday, the APC campaign had called on the security agencies to arrest, investigate and prosecute Atiku "for running Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) used to loot the treasury of the country, in what is now known as Atikugate."
Onanuga said, "Since the scandal broke out, along with legal action to compel anti-graft agencies to perform their role, Atiku and his party, PDP, have laboured in vain to deflect and cover up with their series of ad hominem arguments.
"Instead of Atiku to apologise to Nigerians for abusing his office and position of trust in the past, Atiku's spokesmen continue to dig deeper in the hole they already found themselves by raising many false allegations against our candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
"The latest chapter in Atiku and PDP's comedy, is the rehash of old tales and fables that have no basis in facts and reality against our candidate.
"Our stand remains that Atiku Abubakar lacks the character to be the president of Nigeria. He is unfit to lead our country because he can be an easy target for compromises that will be against national interest.
"Atiku in deeds and words has shown that he cannot be trusted to manage the resources of Nigeria."
Election Merchant Can't Solve Nigeria's Problems, APC Tells Obi
In a similar development, the APC yesterday descended on the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, describing him as an "election merchant" who lacks the capacity to wriggle Nigeria out of the economic and social morass the country is enmeshed in.
According to the governing party, Obi lacks the ideological standpoint that can bring him close to addressing even the challenges facing the working class, the primary constituency of his political party.
The national vice chairman (North West) of the APC, Saliu Lukman, who stated this in a statement he issued on Sunday said among the leading presidential candidates, it is only the APC standard bearer, Bola Ahmed Tinubu that has never left his party to any other party.
The former director-general of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) noted that although Tinubu has been a national political leader since he left office as governor of Lagos State in 2007, he is presenting himself for the first time as a presidential candidate for the 2023 elections.
Lukman said, "In terms of the person of Mr. Peter Obi, so far, his characteristics is that of a typical Nigerian politician who is more of an election merchant presenting himself every four years for election, even if it means changing political party.
"Being an election merchant connotes an obvious lack of commitment and discipline to be loyal to any political party. This partly explains why Mr. Obi moved from All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and now LP between 2015 and now.
"What is the guarantee that his candidature of LP also bears a commitment to develop the LP and get it to overcome all its challenges. Noting that it is public knowledge that LP has been embroiled in a leadership crisis, how is Mr. Obi using his campaign to negotiate the resolution of the LP crisis. From a distant point of view, Mr. Obi is in fact indifferent to the crisis facing LP.
"Beyond being indifferent, Mr. Obi is clearly alien to any ideological standpoint that can bring him close to the working class, which is the primary constituency of LP. Some of us are privileged to have been intellectually and organically connected to that constituency. In fact, I am privileged to have managed the project which conceived and facilitated the initial negotiation between Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its partners, notably civil society, which produced the LP in 2003."
Lukman who said it was important to recognise the legitimate disappointment of Nigerians with the current leaders and the state of the nation, noted that it would remain a fallacy to imagine that a simple choice of a typical election merchant like Obi can resolve Nigeria's challenges.
He added that apart from Peter Obi, any other politician with the penchant for changing political parties just to contest elections cannot be the kind of leader Nigeria needs today.
"Without prejudice to my respect for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, they are both in the same category with Mr. Obi. Alhaji Atiku has been either a Presidential candidate or aspirant in every election in different parties since 2007. Sen. Kwankwaso has moved from PDP to APC, back to PDP between 2015 and 2019, before finally forming New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in 2022 and presenting himself as the Presidential candidate of the party for 2023 election," he stated.
The APC national vice chairman recalled that Tinubu was the only contestant who together with other leaders of APC envisioned the political roadmap for the defeat of PDP.
He noted: "The emergence of Asiwaju as the Presidential candidate of APC was the product of open internal contest in APC. Unlike most of the Presidential candidates of the other opposition parties, Asiwaju was not a product of imposition. It can also be argued that Alh. Atiku also won the PDP primary.
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"However, the difference between Asiwaju and Alhaji Atiku is the ability to successfully negotiate and win the support of other party leaders who contested against him. Today, all those who contested against Asiwaju in APC are working for his victory."
Beware Of Candidates Claiming It's Their Turn, Obi Bombs Tinubu
But in a veiled reference to APC flagbearer, Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, cautioned Nigerians against candidates laying claims to the presidency on grounds that it is their turn to rule the country.
"Don't listen to anybody coming from it's his turn, it's nobody's turn, but your turn to take back your country from those destroying it.
"When they come, look out for a character you trust, the person with antecedents, the person you can identify his past, the schools he went to and how they performed where they were before," Obi stated during his campaign in Kano.
He told the people that if other candidates come with religious and tribal sentiments, they should tell them to provide jobs or show them where anybody is buying goods at cheaper rate because of where he comes from or because of his religion.
Noting that his administration will fight corruption, Obi said, "We will pull people out of poverty by taking Nigeria from consumption to production and stop the sharing that has kept the country down.
"I and Datti are different, we will not be transactional but will use your money well for production."
The LP flag bearer told the cheering crowd that the reason the national currency, the naira, is not strong is because of corruption. They steal public money to buy dollars, promising that he and Datti will stop all that if elected.
Ibi promised to ensure that Kano State regains its enviable status as a centre of trade and industry in Northern Nigeria.
The candidate who noted that he drove round Kano city before coming to address the rally, said he found all the industries in the city shutdown, promising that if elected by February, he and Datti will restore them.
He said the trading status of Kano will return and will remain the center of cash.
"Before, if you want cash you come to Kano but what you see today is poverty everywhere. Datti and I will restore the old glory of Kano.
"We will secure and unite Nigeria where people will be proud to say I am a Nigerian. We will kill the sentiments of tribes and religions which they have been using to deceive us."
The former Anambra State governor told the people amidst shouts of 'Sai Obi' that under the presidency if he and Datti, there will be one Nigeria where the people will be free to move and do their businesses unmolested.
