Minister of State, Labour and Employment and Director, Public Affairs and Spokespersons, Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo (SAN) has debunked the claims of the Labour Party (LP) that he insulted Nigerians by listing conditions the party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi must fulfil before being considered for a debate with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
In a statement made available to Daily Independent on Wednesday, November 30, Keyamo outlined ten major reasons why the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) strongly believes that it is Obi and his party that are insulting the sensibilities of Nigerians and taking them as fools.
The full statement reads,
“It is Peter Obi and Labour Party that are insulting Nigerians and taking them to be fools for the following reasons:
Peter Obi’s manifesto
1. Labour Party and Peter Obi want Nigerians to rely on what is inside the brain of Peter Obi and what he says only by word of mouth instead of producing a manifesto for scrutiny. That is an insult to millions of Nigerians.
2. Peter Obi and Labour Party are disguising themselves as ‘new breeds’, whereas just a few months ago Peter Obi was in the same PDP that enthroned one of the worst periods of corruption and profligacy in our country and which party they now insult on a daily basis; for the records, Peter Obi did not leave PDP out of principles; he left out of personal frustration when he was muzzled out. That is why he has been likened to a mentally challenged person who is just moved to a new facility and promptly declared to be fit without rehabilitation. That is an insult to millions of Nigerians;
3. Peter Obi believes in subsidy removal whereas Labour Party opposes subsidy removal in its entirety, yet they tell Nigerians they are working together. That is an insult to millions of Nigerians;
4. Peter Obi has refused to openly condemn the perpetrators of the carnage in the South East and call them out but condemns similar incidents in other parts of the country, yet pretentiously disguises himself as a nationalist. That is an insult to millions of Nigerians;
5. Peter Obi is just moving from Church to Church, whipping up religious sentiments and campaigning on that basis, yet pretentiously disguises themself as a pan-Nigerian candidate; that is an insult to millions of Nigerians;
6. Peter Obi and Labour Party want to deceive Nigerians that the quality of leadership is akin to the competition in a debating and dramatic society in school, whereas he goes about lying carelessly and quoting inaccurate and unchecked statistics and data in the name of promoting debate; and whereas we all know that some of the best debaters in school fail their exams and some of the quietest ones in class excel in their exams; they want to deceive Nigerians by smooth-talking, whereas some of the smooth-talkers in history were the greatest con men! They deliberately suppress the attribute of track record in public office which Obi does not have in comparison with ASIWAJU. That is an insult to millions of Nigerians;
7. Peter Obi and Labour Party constantly play God by trying to compare Obi’s supposed fitness to that of ASIWAJU as if they are God. Whereas some of the supposed fittest persons sometimes slump and die (God forbid that happens) and some who people think are not fit enough continue to function till nearly 100 years old. An example was the major opposition candidate in those days in Zimbabwe, the younger and supposedly fitter Morgan Richard Tsvangirai who campaigned on the basis that he was fitter than the then President, Robert Mugabe. Yet, Tsvangirai died suddenly one day in his sixties of Colorectal cancer and Mugabe outlived him and continued as President for many more years into his nineties. So, Peter Obi and his supporters are playing God and that is an insult to Millions of Nigerians;
8. It is also an insult to millions of Nigerians for Peter Obi and the Labour Party to attempt to trash all the achievements and ASIWAJU and even his efforts at restoring our democracy from Military rule (a democracy they are enjoying today) whereas their candidate has no such credentials. We shall not allow them to do that so long as we have the breath of life inside us Peter Obi and his supporters constantly insult all Nigerians each day who are not aligned with them. This is acknowledged throughout the country. They pretend they are angry youths (forgetting that Peter Obi was an active part of that past they are angry about). In actual fact, if you really calmly take the census, ninety-five per cent of the so-called ‘angry’ persons are of either one ethnicity or one religion, thereby promoting division in this country.
9. Peter Obi and his supporters constantly insult all Nigerians each day who are not aligned with them. This is acknowledged throughout the country. They pretend they are angry youths (forgetting that Peter Obi was an active part of that past they are angry about). In actual fact, if you really calmly take the census, ninety-five per cent of the so-called ‘angry’ persons are of either one ethnicity or one religion, thereby promoting division in this country.
We all remember the infamous incident of Peter Obi reading a Whatsapp message from his phone promoting ethnic divides, yet he has not apologised to Nigerians to date. This is an insult to millions of Nigerians; unlike the APC members and ASIWAJU who cut across all tribes, religions, regions and tongues in large and almost equal numbers
10. Peter Obi has not given any tenable and sensible explanation for the scandal regarding the Pandora Papers and how he owned companies in tax havens and reportedly didn’t declare all his assets before he was sworn in as Governor in Anambra State; similarly, how he invested Anambra State monies in his family business, yet goes about campaigning as a saint. That is an insult to Millions of Nigerians”.
