The Atiku Campaign Organization, on Monday, condemned a statement by the All Progressives Congress (APC) casting aspersions on Atiku Abubakar, Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on the day of his birthday and turbaning as Waziri Adamawa.
The Organization remarked that incidentally, the APC’s statement accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of ‘selfishness’ and ‘mercantilism’, which it described as very curious vecause the Waziri dedicated his birthday, not to himself, but to celebrating the over 100 heroes of the 157 Taskforce Battalion of the Nigerian Army who lost their lives to Boko Haram at Metele in Borno State.
The Campaign Organization stated that Atiku rather asked for anyone who wished to give him birthday gifts to endow such on the families of the slain heroes, noting that this is the opposite of selfishness.
The Organization remarked that “ironically, the APC that is now accusing Atiku Abubakar, has not seen fit to pay tribute to these gallant men who gave their lives in order to secure the lives of others.
“As a party, they have not issued even one statement condoling with the slain or their families, neither have they offered any tangible support to the families of these fallen heroes. Yet, they are accusing the Waziri, who has shown commitment to honouring these heroes, of selfishness.”
Ther Organization noted that it was even through Premium Times report, that Nigerians knew that about the killing of the soldiers on November 18, 2018 which was the exact time that the candidate of the APC, Muhammadu Buhari, invited the service chiefs to attend the launch of the plagiarised #NextLevel launch at the banquet hall of the Presidential Villa.
It was contended that “The nation can only wonder if the Metele massacre could have been avoided if the APC and President Buhari had allowed the service chiefs to focus on their core duties, rather than on his ill-fated re-election campaign.”
The Organization declared: “We at the Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation commend the service chiefs for beating a hasty retreat from the event as soon as they discovered that President Buhari was trying to hoodwink them.”
It was indicated that it took Waziri Atiku Abubakar only a few hours to respond to the incident and express support, while it took the APC’s President Buhari a whole week to express “shock”. “We therefore wonder who is truly ‘selfish’, the Organization said.
They Campaign stated that it is left to Nigerians to compare and contrast who is a leader and who is a follower based on the conduct of these two parties.
They referred APC to Atiku’s call for financial support from well-meaning individuals and Institutions for the survivors of the Metele massacre, and indeed for all who made supreme sacrifice in the frontlines for Nigerians to be safe.
“Seeing as the APC spent ₦100 million to buy front page advertorials in all the papers on that fateful day of November 18, 2018, we appeal to them to consider donating even 10% of that amount to the endowment for the families of our heroes as proposed by Atiku Abubakar.
“If they can spend ₦100 million to promote fraud, they should be able to spare at least ₦10 million to promote patriotism,” the Organization declared.