PDP campaign: Tinubu’s performance at Chatham House shows he intends to lead through proxies

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign council has described the performance of Bola Tinubu, standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), at the Chatham House as a “national disgrace”. 

On Monday, Tinubu, spoke at Chatham House where he listed the action plan he intends to implement for Nigeria if elected in 2023.

During the engagement, Tinubu asked some persons on his team, including Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representatives, and Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, to answer questions directed to him.

In a statement issued on Monday night, Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesperson of the PDP presidential campaign council, said Tinubu’s action shows that he will govern through a proxy if elected.

Ologbondiyan said Nigerians were “thoroughly embarrassed” to see the APC presidential candidate ask other persons to answer questions he ought to have addressed himself.

“Nigerians including supporters of the APC Presidential Candidate were thoroughly embarrassed to watch Asiwaju Tinubu who earlier showboated with a scripted speech went blank on the world stage in a tragic display of emptiness and inability to personally address questions that were put to him on the economy, security and other challenges facing our nation,” the statement reads.

“Our Campaign finds it very appalling that a candidate aspiring to be the President of a nation as complex as Nigeria exhibited an embarrassing inability to coordinate his thought process to the extent that he could not personally think through issues and address them but had to direct questions put to him including those on his health and policies to others to answer.

“Asiwaju Tinubu has confirmed to Nigerians and the world that he has no business contesting the 2023 Presidential election; that he is grossly incompetent, completely unprepared for leadership and intends to transfer the onerous task of leading our nation to proxies and a cabal who did not seek votes from Nigerians.

“Of course, Nigerians cannot afford to have a President who cannot take responsibility to lead but intend to shift the burden to others who appear to find scapegoats to blame for his inevitable failures.

“The APC Presidential Candidate ended up becoming a butt of international joke as he could not provide any lead on the critical issues of economy, security, youth development and foreign policies, despite notes passed to him at the event by his handlers.

“Nigerians can recall that the Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign had earlier cautioned Asiwaju Tinubu and his handlers not to embarrass our nation by exhibiting his constant gaffes on the International Stage at Chatham House.”

The PDP presidential campaign council asked Tinubu to stop making public appearances to save himself from frequent gaffes.

“Our Campaign counsels Asiwaju Tinubu’s handlers to stop embarrassing him by always pushing him to make public appearances, even when they are aware of his many incompetence. What Nigerians expect is for the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign to apologize to the nation and stop embarrassing their principal with poorly scripted appearances,” Ologbondiyan said.

“Now that the APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Tinubu has confirmed his unpreparedness and lack of capacity on the world stage, we urge that he should immediately collapse his campaign, stop wasting resources, go home and rest.“