Presidency to PDP: Don’t make Buhari’s family the issue in 2019 polls

…Says main opposition party has failed, remains disconnected with the masses The Presidency, on Wednesday, warned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to make President Muhammadu Buhari’s family matters an issue in the 2019 elections. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, who gave the warning in a statement, said however that if the PDP wants to make family the issue in the coming elections, the APC would gladly accept the challenge. The warning follows the reactions that trailed President Buhari’s public response to criticisms by his wife, Aisha, who recently alleged that two men within the Presidential Villa are responsible for many of the president’s actions. However, the President in his response on Tuesday dared his wife and others making such allegations to present evidence of such claim. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, in the statement, said he was reacting to comments by the PDP on the matter. The statement reads: “The PDP leadership cannot afford to make family an issue in this campaign. Need I say more? The only thing I want to add is that PDP is engaging in mud-slinging because it finds it easier than speaking on their despicable 16-year record in the course of which they abused the trust of Nigerians. “They made a mess of everything including the economy, security and infrastructure. It has come to the destiny of President Muhammadu Buhari to correct their mistakes. “The PDP doesn’t see anything beyond grabbing power, power at all costs. As an opposition party, they have failed. They have remained disconnected with the masses of our people. It is an irony that a party that boasted as being the largest in Africa is now begging small parties for alliances. Even if they get all those paper parties behind them, they will still fail. A Presidential contest is more than the issuance of daily press releases containing falsehoods. “They have launched a campaign for the Presidency, a campaign that has failed to get any traction. PDP members are themselves admitting that the campaign hadn’t made a good start, that attendance at rallies had unarguably been thin. The whole thing is not working; that President Buhari is unstoppable. “Rather than a so-called cabal, an imaginary creation attached to all past governments of the country, President Buhari is remote-controlled by the 200 million-plus Nigerian people whose interest is uppermost in everything he says and does. “The PDP doesn’t have the strength and support to fight President Buhari. They don’t have the records in security, economy and the war against corruption to mount any meaningful challenge. They have no records of accomplishments in infrastructure. In the 16 years they held sway, they have nothing to show for the colossal oil revenues earned, including USD 16 billion doled upfront from the Central Bank for power, without a single megawatt to show for all that money. That is why they are dragging the President’s wife into their politics.” Mathew Dadiya, Abuja