BY EDMOND ODOK – The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has blasted critics accusing him of dressing hirelings as Christian clerics during the unveiling of his running mate, former Borno State governor, Senator Kashim Shettima in Abuja on Wednesday.
Battling to shake-off negative publicity trailing the unveiling ceremony, the Campaign organization of the APC flag bearer said in a statement that being an open public event, every Nigerian and well-wishers of the Party and its candidates, including clerics, were at liberty to attend without any encumbrance.
The statement signed by the Director, Media and Communication of the TInubu Campaign Organization (TCO), Bayo Onanuga accused the opposition of labouring to stir unnecessary attacks on APC in order to diminish the impact and huge success which the event turned out to be against all odds.
Onanuga, who described as “unwarranted distractions” the pictures and videos of some clergymen and women at the unveiling that have gone viral, said “the event was an open affair, which allowed members of the public to attend, including the clergymen and some others now being derided by hirelings of the opposition”.
According the statement released to the media, the TCO said; “We want to say that those clergymen were not fake, not mechanics or yam sellers as the purveyors of hatred have made Nigerians to believe in the social media. They are not big names in Christendom yet, they are gradually building up their missions.
“They are church leaders who genuinely believe that Nigerians must eschew politics of hatred and religious bigotry and rather embrace politics of peace and nation building.
“We therefore deplore the hysterical twisting of the presence of these men and women in cassocks and the false accusation against our candidates, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senator Shettima.
“The orchestrated social media sensation over the presence of the men is needless and all calculated to detract from the huge success recorded at the momentous event on Wednesday.
“We believe Nigerians are too wise and discerning to see through this shenanigan. Asiwaju Tinubu and his running mate and our great party are working very hard to provide purposeful leadership and good progressive governance that will improve the quality of life of Nigerians.
“We are well aware that the opposition parties and the sponsors of the social media charade are jittery and threatened by the intimidating political credentials of our candidates.”
Boasting that the APC presidential team remains focused, the TCO further said; “The only way they hope to shift attention of public scrutiny away from their uninspiring candidates and credentials is to create social media distraction.
“Our campaign is determined to focus on core governance issues that affect all Nigerians with a view to confronting them and make the desired improvements in the standard of living of our people.”
