ABUJA- AHEAD of the Presidential and general elections holding Saturday, March 28 and April 11, National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP yesterday pleaded with former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar,retd, former Chief of General Staff, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, retd, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah to ask the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC to stop insulting President Goodluck Jonathan.
Speaking yesterday at PDP National Secretariat, Abuja when members of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar-led National Peace Committee on Election visited him, Muazu told the Committee members that the Presidential candidate of APC, General Muhammadu Buhari, retd and other key stakeholders of the party must stop portraying President Jonathan as a bad product.
Also with Ukiwe during the visit was the Chairman of Dangote group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, among others.
Speaking further, Muazu told his visitors that rather than insult and attempt to ridicule President Jonathan, the APC should tell Nigerians what they would do better with their candidate, adding that though it was not the policy of the PDP, but some younger members of the party had no choice than to react in commensurate manner to attacks from the opposition as they were pushed to the wall.
Muazu who noted that as the National Chairman of the ruling party, all he could do was to be a good salesman of President Jonathan designed to make the electorate cherish him, said, “This is the kind of committee we need to be our watchdog, to be our prompters so that we do what is absolutely required to have very credible, peaceful and transparent elections and for such a result that would come out of the elections for us to be happy with.
“Mr. Chairman, I want to assure you that the Peoples Democratic Party will be running a very fair campaign led by me. If you watch my utterances personally, you will find that there is nothing I do than to be a good salesman of what I should be, for my party and for my President.
“I have enough to say about my President that are positive to make people adore him and love him, to vote for him. I have very little to say about the opposition.
“Unfortunately, when the opposition goes haywire, some of our small boys in our own party also shout back. And that is why you have some of the unfortunate things.
“Believe me, I always give them a very strong signal that we don’t expect that. That is why it is not more than it has been. It would have gone even much worse. It is absolutely unnecessary to call somebody’s product bad product. It is better for you to sell your product and show how good or better your product is than the others.
“For us, we do not have any doubt that our product, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has all we need to sell in a president and therefore we do not need to speak ill about others.
“But I only want to assure you Mr. Chairman, that by the grace of the Almighty God, we have heard your advice and your words as elders are words of wisdom. We will continue to improve and increase in our caution and the use of our words and whatsoever use of negative campaigns for the next few days until the Election Day.”
Earlier in his remarks, chairman of the committee, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar
who noted that the committee had observed that some of the utterances coming from party leaders at the ongoing campaign did not fit into the recently signed Abuja Peace Accord that was signed by representatives of various political parties.
The former Head of State who was represented by former Chief of General Staff (CGS), Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, retd who expressed the hope that there would be a peaceful election to usher in a new administration, said that the committee therefore would want encourage the PDP to as much as possible “go back” to what was agreed at the the peace accord.
He said, go back to the language that will unite rather than divide us. We hope the election will go on peacefully and the opinion of most Nigerians respected.
“We will continue to pray and watch what is going on. We will continue to pray for peaceful election. Let the effort for peace and progress continue.”
Source: Vanguard
