PRESIDENTIAL aspirant under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tanimu Turaki (SAN), has dismissed suggestions that President Muhammadu Buhari continues to retain about 12 million votes in the north, saying that his followers in the region have dwindled as a result his of poor performance in office.
The former Minister of Special Duties collected his nomination form on Wednesday to vie for the presidential ticket of the main opposition party.
Speaking to reporters after picking the form, the aspirant, who was represented by the Director Publicity of his campaign organization, Sola Atere, observed that since people have seen the dismal performance of the president in office, things are no longer the same for him in the north.
He said the administration has nothing substantial to its name as what it has been claiming are projects executed by the last PDP government.
The aspirant said: “What they are saying was way back in 2015. Things have changed. When you have not been in power, you can make all sorts of forecasts. Now, the scenario has changed. Nigerians have seen to what extent the APC government can perform.
“And if you look at a lot of the projects they are laying claim to, they were established by the PDP. Look at the railways, for instance, the one from Abuja to Kaduna, they themselves reported at some point that the (Goodluck) Jonathan administration had gone over 60 per cent as far as that project is concerned.
“Even the Aladja railway project, they were talking about of recent, I was a correspondent with (Ibrahim) Babangida way back when we were in Dodan Barracks, it was at that time that we went to Aladja to start the project.
“It was meant to service the Itakpe and all those mines. But they lay claim to all sorts of things. But people can see through the facade that it’s all lies.
“This is a government that has been making mistakes at every point in time.
“Media have been reporting the so-called certificate saga. One of them is having issues with a university that it looks like the certificate has been doctored.
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“Then? you have a minister who doesn’t have NYSC certificate. They are claiming that it may not be corruption. I don’t know their own definition of corruption.
“Corruption is not all about money alone. Corruption is all about the perversion of integrity. Nigerians know all these things.
“The so-called 12 million voters they are laying claim to would have been reduced. Because look at the economic situation where people are complaining that they cannot even have one square meal. How do you expect them to come out and go and aggregate votes up to 12 million for somebody who has been the architect of their misfortune?”
On the attempt to stop another PDP presidential aspirant, Rabiu Kwankwaso, from formally declaring his intention to contest, Turaki affirmed that it is that kind of attitude that will make Nigerians vote against the current ruling party.
He added: “Well, I’m not speaking for Kwankwaso. But let me start by saying that the injury that they are inflicting on Kwankwaso, is one of the things Nigerians will see and will not vote for them and that is part of the factors that will reduce the 12 million votes.
“Having said that, they are doing nothing new. Because since they have come here, they have been harassing people.
“You saw the Gestapo approach in arresting judges. People know that they are just abrasive, they want to intimidate and humiliate people to submission.
“But I can assure you if we get the ticket, it is going to be a different ball game because we are not going to accept that.
“And of course, the international community is watching. It is part of the game plan to harass people, intimidate people and possibly anybody that they see that has a strong potential to challenge their own candidate, they want to beat them down so that at the end of the day, they want to have a semi-autocratic regime in place.”
