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By-Leon Usigbe, Abuja
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on Sunday called on the Department of State Service (DSS), the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to invite the Director of Special Projects and New media of the Tinubu/Shettima presidential campaign council, Femi Fani-Kayode, to explain his allegations and insinuations of an attempted coup being planned by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag bearer and top generals.
The former vice president made the call in a statement by his Special Assistant, Public Communications, Mr. Phrank Shaibu, to react to a tweet by Fani-Kayode that he (Atiku) met with top army generals with a possible plan to scuttle the coming election or planning a coup.
While noting that the penalty for coup plot is death sentence, the statement said: “Ordinarily, we wouldn’t have bothered responding to Fani-Kayode who has over the years built a reputation of being an inveterate liar so much so that he was even publicly blacklisted by the Nigeria Union of Journalists after his disgraceful outburst at a journalist.
“However, allegations and insinuations of a coup should not be taken lightly given the fact that it is treason, an offence that carries the death penalty. While commending the Nigerian military for effectively rubbishing Fani-Kayode’s barefaced lie, we call on security agencies to invite him to shed more light on the allegations.”
The statement described Fani-Kayode’s attempt to recant as belated, adding that the allegations are too grave to be ignored.
It added: “No! Fani Kayode cannot recant. We refuse to accept that. He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. He who comes to the Lord must come with contrition. Contrition requires remorse and confession. If Fani-Kayode wants Nigerians to take him serious, it is his confession that he lied or his provision of proof that he did not.
“This man, who has vilified many people through his lies, wants to get acceptance without doing penance for an act of wickedness motivated by finance!”
The statement further recalled that when the late Deputy Central Bank Governor, Obadiah Mailafia, made allegations that a serving governor was a Boko Haram commander, he was invited five times by the DSS and the police until he had to run to court.
It stated that Fani-Kayode must not be given preferential treatment because he works for the ruling party.
Atiku continued: “The late Mailafia was invited more than five times by the DSS and the police for saying a serving governor was a Boko Haram commander. Fani-Kayode has also made an allegation that borders on security and must thus be invited to expiate as failure to do so will be partisanship.”
The statement also pointed out that the APC the All Progressives Congress in a statement signed by Alhaji Lai Mohammed on March 2, 2015, had levelled allegations of substance abuse against Fani-Kayode, which the statement said he has been unable to shake off.
It recalled: “In a statement on March 2, 2015, the then APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed (now information minister), said Fani-Kayode may have been ‘unhinged, perhaps as a result of a relapse into an unhealthy lifestyle of substance abuse.’
“Today, Fani-Kayode has chosen to be the spokesman for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a man who American authorities accused of laundering millions of dollars for drug kingpins and was forced to forfeit $460,000. Indeed, Fani-Kayode and Tinubu’s new found love is understandable because as the saying goes, show me your friend and I will tell you who you are.”
According to the statement, it is ironic that Fani-Kayode had been missing his corruption trial before the Federal High Court in Lagos, claiming that he is ill and yet continues to play an active role in Tinubu’s campaign.
The statement added; “Fani-Kayode is currently facing corruption charges to the tune of N4.9bn before Justice Abike Fadipe at the Federal High Court in Lagos. For several months he refused to show up in court but went on to forge a medical report of Kubwa General Hospital, claiming to be ill only for the hospital to deny ever issuing the report.”
It said despite his baggage, Tinubu decided to appoint him as his image maker, saying, “what a shame.”
The PDP presidential candidate added: “Nigerians must not forget that it was Fani-Kayode that gave the APC the nickname Almajiri Peoples Congress. This is a man that said he would rather die than join the APC, describing the ruling party as a bloodthirsty, blood-lusting, accursed political association of Boko Haramists, Fulani herdsmen, genocidal maniacs, ethnic cleansers, mass murderers, ethnic supremacists, religious bigots, cow-lovers and corrupt treasury looters that have brought nothing but death, division, misery, poverty, incompetence, shame and destruction to our nation and our people will burn in hell forever!”
He called on Nigerians not to forget that it was Fani-Kayode that had been demonising northerners, encouraging separatists and inciting southwest agitators for the last seven years.
The statement added, “Fani-Kayode has never believed in the unity and prosperity of Nigerians. In a bid to hold the government to ransom, he became a spokesman for IPOB, following Nnamdi Kanu all over the place in order to gain relevance. From there, he jumped to Sunday Igboho whom he was encouraging to attack and kill northerners.
“After he was called to the dinner table by the APC, he suddenly became interested in nation building and became the de facto campaign manager of Yahaya Bello and then moved over to Senate President Ahmad Lawan before settling for Tinubu. For Fani-Kayode, it is ‘anywhere belle face’.”
Furthermore, the statement noted that when President Muhammadu Buhari’s only surviving son, Yusuf, suffered a motorbike accident in December 2017, every Nigerian regardless of religion and political affiliation prayed for his speedy recovery but this was not the case with Fani-Kayode.
It added, “Rather than act like a normal human being, these were the words Fani-Kayode had to utter when the President’s only son was struggling for his life: God told Pharaoh to let my people go. Pharaoh asked who He was? God told him ‘I am the I Am, that I Am’ and sent signs of His awesome power. It cost Pharaoh both his own life and that of his son.”
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