TheCable

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has distanced itself from Ayodele Fayose’s advertorial in some national newspapers likening late Nigerian leaders from the northwest of the country to Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate.

In the advertorial published on Monday, Fayose, the Ekiti state governor, suggested that Buhari might go the way of Umaru Yar’adua, Sani Abacha and Murtala Mohammed, who all died while in office.

However, speaking with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, Femi Fani-Kayode, spokesman of the PDP presidential organisation, stated that only Fayose’s opinion – and not the party’s – was expressed in the advertorial.

“Governor Ayo Fayose is a distinguished leader of our party. A democratically-elected governor and someone we have immense respect and affection for, but he released this advert in his own name,” he said.

“That represents his own personal opinion, which he is entitled to. What I can tell you on our part, as the presidential campaign organisation, is that it does not represent the opinion of the campaign organisation or indeed that of the president.

“It is his opinion, which he is entitled to, and he is somebody that we have immense respect for; he is a leading member of the party. I have spoken with him and we respect him, but for anybody to suggest that this is the position of the presidential campaign organisation or President Goodluck Jonathan, that will be most unfair.

“If we wanted to say something like that, we will say it without any kind of apology but of course we will never say that because we believe in the sanctity of life. Age is not a function of how long you will live. It is important that we recognize the fact that age is not an indication of how long somebody will live.

“We believe strongly that we must continue to show immense respect for the person of Gen. Buhari in terms of his person and his health, though we believe it is important to always raise questions about facts; you know what these questions are and we will continue to raise them.”

Meanwhile, the APC presidential campaign organisation (APCPCO) has dismissed PDP’s rebuttal of Fayose’s newspaper advertorial.

A statement from the directorate of media and publicity of the campaign organisation stated that the denial of the advertorial was “merely a case of a master dissociating himself from the errand boy after the message had backfired”.

According to organisation, the response of the ruling party is “too casual and off-handed to impress anyone”.

It doesn’t sound convincing,” APC said.

“The PDP needs to take this issue more seriously to underscore its commitment to the sustenance of Nigeria’s democracy and the non-violence pact entered into by the party and its presidential candidate.”

The statement, signed by the campaign organisation’s spokesman, Garba Shehu said further: “It is very irresponsible for the PDP to want to distance itself from the death threat to General Buhari, made by not only a sitting governor of the PDP but also a high-ranking member of the PDP Presidential Campaign Committee.

“Just in case the PDP has forgotten, what was Fani-Kayode thinking in his mind when he challenged General Buhari to make a jog round a field? Was it to put him through a body fitness workout or to plant a sniper somewhere around the field?

“Whatever the intention of the PDP was, about the health status of General Buhari, we in the APC Campaign believe in the exclusivity of the divine role in the matters of life and death.

“It is not difficult for Nigerians to discern what the PDP odd intention towards the APC and its presidential candidate is. The PDP’s uncivilised death plot only exposes the mindset of the party and their cohorts.

“That the PDP can place such noxious campaign advertorial into the public domain, in a desperate attempt to promote an incompetent incumbent president, is tantamount to PDP’s tradition of violence and victimization, as well as an eloquent commentary on how President Goodluck Jonathan runs his administration.”

The APC presidential campaign organisation restated its request for an independent investigation into the PDP threat against its presidential candidate, Buhari to ensure his safety.