The Atiku-Okowa Campaign Organisation has accused the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed of trying to revive his dying career as Government spokesperson by seeking to impress his employers by attacking Atiku Abubakar.
Spokesperson for the Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign, Kola Ologbondiyan said this in Abuja, on Thursday.
He spoke in response to claims by the Minister that Atiku’s promise to keep Nigerian borders open when elected President was a plot to reverse economic gains made by President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress-led administration.
Ologbondiyan said, “Can we then take it that since the borders are currently opened that all the allegations that he made are reflected in the Nigerian situation today? Is that what he’s saying? Because the borders are open as you and I are talking.
“But I also know that in spite of the opening of the borders that the cost of local rice is different from the cost of imported rice. Imported rice sells for between N40,000 and N50,000 (Naira) or above, while locally milled rice sells between 30,000 and 40,000.
“So, that same differential pooh-poohs the argument and contemplation of Alhaji Lai Mohammed.”
On the claim that Atiku’s plan will increase insecurity in the country,
Ologbondiyan said, “Is Lai Mohammed claiming that when the borders were shut by President Muhammadu Buhari that we didn’t have insecurity?
“Or is he saying that now that the borders are open, we have more of insecurity than when it was shut?
“Alhaji Lai Mohammed is an old man. I know his proclivities, and I know why he tries to come out always to come and engage with Atiku.
“He’s doing all that in order to be seen to be working for the failed ambition of his friend, Bola Tinubu.
“Atiku Abubakar is never going to be drawn into that arena because Atiku is speaking to Nigerians, he’s addressing the challenges of Nigeria and realistically, Nigerians are agreeing with him that he’s responding to their needs, to their desires.
“So, we are not going to allow any form of distraction from Mohammed. You had eight years to speak to Nigerians on the achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari. He failed woefully in delivering on that.
“But now, he’s looking at every flimsy opportunity to drag with Atiku Abubakar. We are not cut out for that as a campaign.
“He’s not in the race. It is his friend, Bola Tinubu, that’s in the race and is the one Nigerians are waiting for to come into the public arena and debate unscripted.
“He should come out to the public arena and debate unscripted. That’s the desire of Nigerians. That’s what Nigerians are waiting for.”
