Paul Ibe, media aide to PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, says even an angel cannot market the All Progressives Congress (APC) to Nigerians to achieve success in the 2023 general elections.
He said this on Sunday while reacting to the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s appointment of Kogi governor, Yahaya Bello as the National Youth Coordinator of Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council.
Tinubu’s letter to Bello read, “By way of this letter, we are pleased to formally convey your appointment as National Youth Coordinator of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council.
“This appointment is fitting and appropriate, given your impressive political achievements and the exemplary leadership you have demonstrated as governor of your state and as a party member.
“We are grateful that you have joined our campaign team. We know you will do your utmost in this new responsibility so we conduct an effective, message-driven campaign leading us to victory in the 2023 Presidential election.
“Together, not only can we ensure victory for our party in the February 2023 election but we shall also move Nigeria along the path of national greatness by building on the achievements of our party and the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in providing progressive good governance to Nigerians. We wish you God’s speed and guidance.”
Since the appointment became public, stakeholders have been reacting across the political divide.
Former Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu praised Tinubu’s vision, saying the presidential candidate has a history of appointing the right people for his campaign.
However, Atiku’s aide, Ibe was not so impressed, saying the APC’s failures since 2015 have rendered any such appointment useless.
“What will this newly appointed national youth coordinator (Bello) will be telling young people without jobs? They are free to appoint anyone to achieve whatever objectives they seek to achieve.
“But one thing is constant – whoever they appoint, even if the person is an angel from heaven, the person has to live with the reality of this government’s failure. I don’t know what they will sell to Nigerians. This election is a referendum on the failed policies of the APC. They have left Nigerians poorer, hungrier, insecure and more divided than ever. That’s the scorecard of the APC and the APC presidential candidate has to own it. The directorate of their campaign also has to own it.
“It is therefore not about who they appoint but about the fact that the last seven years were wasted by the APC administration. These are years that Nigerians will forever regret and pray that the 19th-century archaic rule never happens again,” he said.