BY Mayowa Tijani
Godswill Akpabio, the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the party and its governors are not worried by the age of Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) but by the “age of his ideas”.
While speaking at the PDP governors’ forum at Lagos on Tuesday, Akpabio said Buhari’s ideas were obsolete and his old tricks could not work in Nigeria.
“Today, General Buhari, like in 1983, is boasting as an anti-corruption crusader, even when surrounded by people of questionable means all in an effort to cajole the electorate ahead of the forthcoming general election.
“Interestingly, the party that is parroting anti-corruption slogan is epitomising corruption in all it’s ramification. Questions that come to mind are, who are the people talking about corruption in the opposition? Who are the main financiers of the opposition? How did they make their money? We cannot fall prey to the same old trick, Nigerians are wiser today.”
He added that Buhari’s age was no problem for the PDP governors, considering that even when he was younger, he did not take charge of the nation.
“We are aware that some people have complained about the age of general Buhari, but we don’t see anything wrong as governors of the PDP with general Buhari’s age if he thinks he can withstand the rigours of the job, of the presidency,” Akpabio said.
“There is nothing wrong with his age, but we are extremely concerned about the age of his ideas, we are concerned that a man who could not take charge when he was in his 40s but rather bequeath to historical infamy a regime named after two individuals, Idiagbon-Buhari Regime ,instead of one person as used to be the case.”
But Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, said he unlike his colleagues he has issues with the age of Buhari.
“I don’t agree with my chairman on the age of Buhari because me I have issues with that,” he said.
“Buhari is too old and you will not see such a president more than once in two weeks because he is weak. He is not a replacement for President Goodluck Jonathan. Sicknesses, problems come with age. I am not after Buhari because he is my father and anybody who is the age of your mother is your father.”
Governors at the forum were: Liyel Imoke (Cross River); Aliyu Babangida (Niger); Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa); Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Jonah Jang (Plateau); and Sule Lamido (Jigawa).
Others were: Mukhtar Yero (Kaduna); Bala Ngilari (Adamawa); Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo); and Ibrahim Danwambo (Gombe).
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