A former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, on Wednesday said there are dangers in electing Muhammadu Buhari, the candidate of the opposition party All Progressives Congress, APC, as the President of Nigeria come February 14.
Mr. Fani-Kayode, who is the spokesperson of President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign team, said the group will expose the dangers he described.
He said this at a news conference in Abuja.
Mr. Fani-Kayode said the president’s campaign team would run a campaign that focuses on facts, figures and the exposure of Mr. Buhari, “for who he really is”.
“It is our full intention to expose General Muhammadu Buhari for what he really is, what he stands for and the great danger that his candidacy portends for the unity of the Nigerian state and the peace and well-being of the Nigerian people,” he said.
Mr. Fani-Kayode said the team he leads will also let the world know about the sterling performance of President Jonathan, over the last four years and will also make a strong case to the Nigerian people on the reasons to grant the sitting president, the opportunity to serve a second term.
“We believe that we have reached a crossroads in our nation’s history and that the forthcoming Presidential Election is a battle for the very soul and destiny of Nigeria,” he said.
Mr. Fani-Kayode said the election would expose the clear differences between Messrs. Jonathan and Buhari, which he described as “light and darkness”.
“We believe that General Buhari represents the darkness and that President Jonathan represents the light. We believe that General Buhari represents a return to an ugly past, which is best forgotten while President Jonathan represents our hope for a greater and better future.
“We believe that the APC, on which platform General Buhari is contesting the presidential election, represents everything that is unholy and unwholesome in our society and that the PDP represents all that is decent and good,” he said.
Mr. Fani-Kayode said the much-touted “change” campaign of Mr. Buhari represents nothing but change from good to evil.
“If you want a positive change, you cannot expect to get it from a man like General Buhari whose democratic credentials are questionable and whose record in public office is shameful and disastrous,” he said.
The former Minister said most Nigerians do not remember the “atrocities” that Mr. Buhari committed when he was in power, adding that it is the responsibility of his team to “document them and remind the Nigerian people about them”.
“Most people have chosen to ignore the number of things that General Buhari has said and the number of things that he has done over the last few months and years that have brought carnage, division and strife in our society and that prove that he is not the sort of person that can be trusted with power.
“It is our intention to bring those things to the attention of the Nigerian people so that they can make an informed choice,” he said.
Mr. Fani-Kayode said Nigeria should not be run by a man that is not capable of tolerating dissent or by a political party like the APC that has no sense of remorse, restraint or decency and that is not capable of accepting a plurality of views.
He said Mr. Jonathan has earned the right for a second term and that, in the next few weeks, his campaign team will make a humble appeal to the Nigerian people to vote for him massively in the February 14 Presidential Election.
“By the grace and power of God, we shall prevail,” he said.
Responding to a reporter’s questions on whether Mr. Jonathan will travel to the northeastern part of Nigeria that has been under constant attack by the Boko Haram insurgents to canvass for votes, Mr. Fani-Kayode said the president would go to the region and “has answers to all their questions”.
“In spite of acts of insurgency in the North-East, the PDP-led Federal Government had done a lot to contain the situation,” he said.
He also dismissed allegations of the president condoning corruption, saying no one has been indicted or prosecuted for corruption because “no one has presented credible evidence of corruption against any top government official”.
