THE presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has lampooned his opposite number in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar insisting it was shameful of him to have promised the people of Kogi State a revival of the moribund Ajaokuta Steel Complex.
Speaking through Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the Director, Media and Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council, the APC stalwart said Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as head of the Obasanjo era privatisation programme, granted Global Steel a concession in 2004 to take over the company.
According to Mr. Onanuga, another PDP government cancelled the concession when it found out that it was a mess. Global Steel took the Nigerian government to court and demanded $7 billion compensation, even though it failed to fulfil the terms of the concession by making Ajaokuta a reality.
“The case lingered for 12 years until the APC administration of President Muhammadu Buhari stepped in. Global Steel agreed to end its legal battle and walk away with $496 million of Nigeria’s money.
“As the Minister of Information revealed recently, the Buhari government, which has been clearing many messes left by the successive PDP administration, made a bulk payment of $250 million and agreed to pay the balance in five installments. To date, Buhari has paid a total of $446 million out of the $496 million. The Buhari government will make the last payment of $50 million next month and Ajaokuta will revert fully to the country and allow the implementation of the government’s plan, including Russian intervention, to make the company operational.
“Without showing any remorse and shame, Atiku Abubakar recently went to Kogi State, the home of the unfortunate steel company to make another empty promise of reviving the company.
“Atiku probably wanted to cash in on the short memory of our people as his party has been going about with the conman campaign of recovering Nigeria, when it created, in the first place, the monumental damage that the APC government has been struggling to fix for almost eight years”, Mr. Onanuga pointed out.
In a statement titled” Not Just A Slip Of Tongue, PDP Has Really Brought Shame To Nigeria”, Mr. Onanuga said the declaration by Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, the National Chairman of the PDP that his party brought shame to Nigeria. should not be seen as a mere slip of the tongue.
“In our view, Iyorchia Ayu did not suffer slip of the tongue. He was only reflecting an inner guilt about the grave damage his party inflicted on our country for 16 years”.
While denying that the APC has any plan to hack the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) database, Mr. Onanuga said Nigerians know the true hackers.” Atiku’s PDP did so in 2019 and may well be planning to do so this month.
“PDP has become a danger to itself and a big threat to our country that must be finally exterminated from our body politic by Nigerians through their votes against the party that set our country back”.