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Atiku Lashes Out At Tinubu Over Comments On Dollar To Naira Exchange Rate
Atiku Abubakar has lashed out at Bola Tinubu over comments on Dollar to Naira Exchange Rate against the Buhari led Federal Government.
NewsOnline reports that the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, yesterday, lashed out at his All Progressives Congress (APC) rival, Bola Tinubu, and described him as a hypocrite over his attempts to extricate himself from the failures of the APC-led government.
This is as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has said Atiku and his running mate, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, were adequately prepared to transparently manage the nation’s economy and create jobs for the masses.
At the same time, the party in Kano has said it was planning a big rally for its presidential candidate come February 9.
Atiku, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, had reacted to Tinubu’s latest open attack on President Muhammadu Buhari at the Calabar rally on Tuesday.
Tinubu had said, “Today, they moved the exchange rate from N200 to N800. If they had repaired it, if they had arrested this, we wouldn’t be where we are today; we would be greater. They don’t know the way, they don’t know how to think, they don’t know how to do it.”
But Atiku, while reacting, said prior to the election season, Tinubu had defended the exchange rate policy of the current regime, when a group of youths led by Moremi Ojudu led a protest to his house located on 26 Bourdillon Street, Ikoyi, on February 9, 2017, when the dollar hit N500.
He said Moremi, the daughter of Babafemi Ojudu, Special Adviser on political affairs to President Muhammadu Buhari, had challenged Tinubu over the declining value of the naira but Tinubu was seen on video telling protesting youths that, “I am not worried about the exchange rate, because your salary should be in Naira and you are not an importer. Maybe that is even teaching us a lesson to be dependent on our domestic product.”
Atiku said Tinubu was not only a pernicious and lubricious hypocrite but also a death-defying politician, who is trying to be clever by half. He said it was funny that Tinubu, who proudly held the position of national leader of the APC for the last eight years, could throw the President under the bus in his failed and desperate quest for power.
The former vice president described Tinubu as a deceitful politician, who likes to throw his friends under the bus whenever there is a little challenge.
“Tinubu has disingenuously been criticising President Buhari, trying to extricate himself from the failures of the APC, which he had vigorously defended in the last eight years. Nigerians must not be deceived by this charlatan, who is now posing to be on the side of the masses.
“Tinubu is the APC, mind, soul and body. He was the national leader of the party even before Buhari became the presidential candidate. Is it possible for a snail to deny its own shell? Tinubu needs to give up this rascally act and take ownership of the failure of his party in the last eight years. His latest outburst is nothing but diversionary tactics.
“When some disgruntled APC leaders were against Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s ambition, Tinubu threw Ambode under the bus. He ensured Ambode never returned despite entreaties from President Buhari, Governor Atiku Bagudu and several others. Curiously, he is now taking credit for Ambode’s achievements, including the transformation of the Oshodi district.
“This is the sort of person Tinubu is. He is a user, who throws his friends under the bus when things get tough. Nigerians have been facing petrol scarcity for nearly a year. Why is Tinubu just speaking about it now that elections are a few days away?” he asked.
Atiku noted that as elections approached and the reality slowly dawning on Tinubu, he increased his attacks against the President in order to distance himself from the failure that his party has become, adding that, Nigerians must not fall for this trick.
Also, one of the spokespersons for the Atiku/Okowa campaign, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, has said, during a panel discussion on “Ensuring Transparency in the Management of Foreign Loans” on “Focus Nigeria”, a programme aired on AIT, that Nigeria currently spends hundreds of billion in excess of its earnings on debt servicing.
