I didn’t criticise Buhari over fuel scarcity, naira redesign, only offered advice, Tinubu clarifies

Presidential candidate of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has faulted the notion in certain quarters that he tackled the President Muhammadu Buhari administration over the lingering fuel scarcity and naira redesign policy.

Director, Media and Publicity of APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement, insisted that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in cahoots with fifth columnists, were the ones bent on inflicting avoidable pains on hapless Nigerians to achieve political ends.

He tackled rivals for issuing a “knee-jerk response, derailing from the issues, distorting his views at the Abeokuta rally, to create a wedge between him and President Muhammadu Buhari.”He added: “When the guilty are afraid of being uncovered, they try to push back with red-herring

“For the records, Asiwaju Tinubu, during 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 drawing government’s attention to the sabotage being carried out by some fifth columnists in the system, possibly working in cahoots with the PDP.

“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 salutary 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 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.

“How does an advisory genuinely made by Asiwaju Tinubu to protect and create goodwill for the government of his party become an attack? It can only be so in the jaundiced view of the PDP.”