Even a person with Femi Fani-Kayode’s diminished stature is well aware of the “the first law of holes is, when you are in one stop digging”. His recent 2696-word tendentious farrago of mendacity is only exceeded by the stunning absence of substance on the very serious issues affecting Nigerians, as Atiku’s policy platform seeks to address. He hurls abuse with demonic venom as he is unable to defend the woeful record of 8 years of APC rule, and is further unable to credibly recycle the recycled Agbado politics and halting, and arguably blasphemous, incoherence of the APC Presidential Candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Climate Change. It is difficult, if not impossible, to engage people Femi Fani Kayode and a party such as the APC, who continue to demonstrate a level of fluency in incompetence and economic mismanagement unrivalled in Nigeria’s history .
Ad hominem attacks, absent substantive engagement on policy, by Femi Fani-Kayode, is like, to coin a phrase from a famous British Politician, being “savaged by a dead sheep”, or in this case a morally and intellectually bankrupt dead sheep! A dead sheep born with a silver spoon in his oleaginous mouth who has made a Faustian bargain for 25 pieces of silver to feed both a craving for sycophantic relevance and a lifelong proclivity for indulgently excessive self-medication.
No Sir! We chose not to engage you further in your defamatory rants, empty sloganeering and sneering. This campaign will be fought on the pressing issues affecting the lives, livelihoods and welfare of Nigerians.
It is only Atiku that has put forward a covenant with Nigeria. It is Atiku who pledges to bring quality education, restructure Nigeria, build a dynamic economy for prosperity, ensure the safety and security of life and property, and restore unity in diversity, develop our human capital, giving the private sector primacy in the nation’s economic development. It is bold and ambitious. No doubt it will be difficult, especially after the damage APC has wrought on the Nigerian people and its economy.
On Education, Atiku seeks to enhance education outcomes with improvements in quality and efficiency. Flagship interventions such as the National Open Apprenticeship Programme and Graduate Trainee Internships that will elevate the role technical and vocational education can play in ensuring suitably qualified people for the workforce of tomorrow. Atiku will create 3 million jobs, including 1 million internships and incubating 100,000 entrepreneurs and supporting business innovation. An Atiku government will lift millions out of poverty.
On the economy Atiku’s covenant with Nigerians among other things is for inclusive growth, create millions of jobs, and more than GDP per capita in a decade with a focus on agriculture, manufacturing with emphasis on small and medium scale enterprises (the backbone of most economies developing and developed).
On security, increasing Nigeria’s law enforcement capabilities and institutional responsiveness including expanding policing numbers to 1 million. Reforming the nation’s security architecture is a priority. Atiku believes security is a collective issue. Unlike the APC candidate who is associated with various characters with reputations for purveying violence and mayhem, and his running mate with reported links to individuals involved in acts of terrorism in our country, Atiku has a law enforcement background understands what is to be at the frontlines of the nation’s security.
On restructuring, Atiku is the only candidate advocating for restructuring. Clearly, Nigeria faces multiple challenges that can best be addressed by asking probing questions as to how or whether we can improve upon the nation’s organising principles for diversification and devolution for our better collective national development, through devolving issues such as social and welfare policies to state and local governments, Also returning to the concurrent list such issues as minerals and police and aspects of energy.
On infrastructure, Atiku is the only candidate with a costed plan for infrastructure development, firm targets for power and a clear roadmap for diversifying the petroleum sector.
Again, Nigerians in hamlets, villages, towns and cities all over the nation people deserve better than failed and stale hand-me-down (or my-fada-dash-me) Agbado politics and Agbero insults peddled in a Faustian bargain Femi Fani-Kayode made with a Mephistophelean APC.
Senator Dino Melaye Spokesperson PDP Presidential Campaign Management Committee