APC responds to attacks on Tinubu over new Naira notes, petrol scarcity comments

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has claimed that Bola Tinubu, the party’s presidential candidate, did not criticize President Muhammadu Buhari in any way when he recently made remarks on petrol shortages and currency redesign.

The APC said in a statement, “For the records, Asiwaju Tinubu during the APC campaign rally at Abeokuta on Wednesday, in his statement, did not mention, blame or accuse President Muhammadu Buhari for the current challenges in the country.

“Asiwaju Tinubu was only adverting the government’s attention to the sabotage being carried out by some Fifth Columnists in the system, possibly working in cahoots with the PDP.”

At the party’s presidential campaign event in the nation’s capital, Tinubu claimed that some individuals are attempting to harm his chances of winning the election on February 25, 2023.

He claimed that issues like petrol shortages and the redesign of the three naira bill won’t stop his fans from supporting him on February 25.

His remarks drew a lot of criticism from several sources, including the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who claimed the former governor of Lagos State was attempting to blackmail Buhari over his impending election loss.

However, in response, the ruling party claimed that Tinubu did not blame Buhari in a statement by Bayo Onanuga, the APC PCC’s director of media and publicity.

The PDP is allegedly conspiring with system insiders known as fifth columnists to cause undue suffering to Nigerians in order to advance their political agenda, according to the APC.

The statement partly read, “The CBN officials, including Governor Godwin Emefiele, have said many times that enough new Naira notes have been supplied to the banks, yet our people complain that they have not been able to get the new notes.

“In recent days, many ATMs are either not working or when working they are dispensing the old notes, just a few days to the January 31 deadline.

“Similarly, Asiwaju Tinubu is aware of the efforts by President Buhari to end the fuel queues, by chairing a 14-man panel. Yet the queues and agony continue.

“For a presidential candidate, who cares about the suffering of our people, he has a duty to warn the government that its efforts to make life better for Nigerians are being sabotaged on several fronts.

“Our presidential candidate only re-echoed what is well known and acknowledged, even by President Buhari himself at different fora: That there are Fifth Columnists in and outside of government who often throw spanners in the works against good intentions and programmes of the government.”