The APC Presidential Campaign Council has berated the flagbearer of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, for spreading false reports on the health of its candidate in what has been described as a plot to earn votes.
In a statement issued by its Director, Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, it stated that Obi who is a politician has “in a flash” grown into a doctor who can now pronounce an individual unhealthy.
It will be recalled that Obi had in a video gone viral on the internet claimed Tinubu to be unwell, adding that his followers know this but are only supporting him because of pecuniary gains to be fetched from him.
The campaign council described such statement from Obi as yet another evidence of the former Anambra state governor’s penchant for falsehoods in his desperate bid to hoodwink the populace for their votes.
“Since he is not Asiwaju’s doctor and is not privy to his medical record, Obi has again disgracefully elevated what has for long been a beer parlour gossip and social media lie being propagated by his IPOB supporters. Obi in his characteristic manner is amplifying falsehood which should not have a place in decent political campaign.”
“We believe that political leaders should be guided in their utterances and be sticklers for the truth, but Obi has thrown caution to the wind, pronouncing on issues he has no moral and professional competence to make a judgment call on,” the statement reads.
It also dismissed allegations made by the Labour Party presidential hopeful that supporters of Tinubu are after his money, establishing that the belief in the former Lagos state governor’s demonstrable ability to provide progressive leadership underpins the massive support he is getting from people.
The council highlighted the political and administrative pedigree of Tinubu, asserting that not even the PDP’s presidential candidate and former vice president of the country, Atiku Abubakar sits in the league of Tinubu.
It said, “We also want to educate Peter Obi and his horde of gullible followers that Tinubu’s millions of supporters countrywide are backing him not because of any pecuniary benefit. Asiwaju Tinubu supporters are rooting for him because of their strong belief in his demonstrable ability to provide progressive leadership for our country.
“They are supporting him because they believe in his capacity as a transformative leader, who once made a historic mark in Lagos State and is capable of replicating same in Nigeria.
“On this score alone, Tinubu is unmatched in the field by even the perennial presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. He is certainly not in the same league with the rabble rousing Peter Obi by all leadership parameters.
“Coming so soon after his gaffe and falsehood in accusing Tinubu of mobilising Yoruba voters not to support him, Obi is coming across as a dangerous politician and a demagogue capable of spewing all manners of lies just to get the votes.
“Already discredited with statistical lies and fallacies, Obi is now treading a new ground, spreading lies with unfounded claims on Asiwaju Tinubu’s health.
“A politician who left no worthy legacy in eight years as governor of Anambra state, who instead built his own family Next Cash and Carry retail mall in Port Harcourt and Abuja not in Awka, the capital of the state he governed is latching on lies after lies to hoodwink his motley crowd of impressionistic and gullible followers.
It warned Obi to refrain from “politics of falsehood” and to start “canvassing on issues” in a bid to, for once, give his campaign a tinge of credibility.
Obi had on several occasions in the past been found to give information that have been fact-checked by the media to be false, giving him an ill-reputation of being a politician of fallacious and misleading information in a bid to gain popularity.