PDP 2019 campaign unable to pick up ― Presidency

The Presidency on Wednesday observed that even though the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has commenced its 2019 campaign, the exercise has been unable to gain traction.

It has also warned that if the party is ready to drag President Muhammadu Buhari’s family into the campaign, the All Progressive Congress (APC) will welcome it.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement made available to the media in Abuja, said: “They have launched a campaign for the Presidency, a campaign that has failed to get any traction. PDP members are themselves admitting that the campaign hadn’t made a good start, that attendance at rallies had unarguably been thin. The whole thing is not working; that President Buhari is unstoppable.”

The Presidency spokesman observed that the PDP wants to make family the issue in the coming elections, noting that the APC would gladly accept the challenge.

“Let this be the subject for 2019 election,” he said.

Reacting to various comments by several organs of the opposition party on remarks made by the President on views publicly expressed by his wife, Mrs Aisha Buhari in an interview, the presidential spokesman said questions raised of the President by the PDP in regard to his wife only amounted to an own goal.

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He stated: “The PDP leadership cannot afford to make family an issue in this campaign. Need I say more? The only thing I want to add is that PDP is engaging in mud-slinging because it finds it easier than speaking on their despicable 16-year record in the course of which they abused the trust of Nigerians.

“They made a mess of everything including the economy, security and infrastructure. It has come to the destiny of President Muhammadu Buhari to correct their mistakes.

“The PDP doesn’t see anything beyond grabbing power, power at all costs. As an opposition party, they have failed. They have remained disconnected from the masses of our people. It is an irony that a party that boasted as being the largest in Africa is now begging small parties for alliances. Even if they get all those paper parties behind them, they will still fail. A Presidential contest is more than the issuance of daily press releases containing falsehoods.

He continued, “rather than a so-called cabal, an imaginary creation attached to all past governments of the country, President Buhari is remote-controlled by the 200 million-plus Nigerian people whose interest is uppermost in everything he says and does.

“The PDP doesn’t have the strength and support to fight President Buhari. They don’t have the records in security, economy and the war against corruption to mount any meaningful challenge. They have no records of accomplishments in infrastructure. In the 16 years they held sway, they have nothing to show for the colossal oil revenues earned, including USD 16 billion doled upfront from the Central Bank for power, without a single megawatt to show for all that money. That is why they are dragging the President’s wife into their politics.”