The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has berated a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal over his assertion that Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), and not President Bola Tinubu, won the February 25 presidential election.
Lawal made the claim in Abuja on Tuesday.
A Tinubu ally, the ex-SGF stated that available factual data as aggregated from several independent sources indicated that Obi got the majority votes while Atiku came second in the election.
He added that Tinubu came a distant third in the number of votes scored.
Reacting in a statement, the National Publicity Secretary of APC, Felix Morka dared Lawal to give a detailed breakdown of the “aggregated facts sourced from independent sources” which he claimed proved that Obi won the election or forever keep mute.
According to the party’s spokesman, the defeat of Lawal’s principal, Peter Obi, “has done incalculable damage to Mr. Lawal’s psyche and his capacity for rational thought as evident in his analysis based entirely on the figment of his warped imagination rather than on hard facts and figures”.
The APC spokesman said a clear sign of his disconnect from reality was his reference to election held in May 2023, rather than February.
“Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, emerged from his hibernation slinging incoherent aspersions on the person of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the exalted office he occupies.
“After a long hiatus leaking his wounds from the monumental electoral loss of his candidate in the last presidential election, Mr. Lawal unabashedly is out again, peddling gibberish, rather than learn from his political misadventure with equanimity,” Morka said.
He added, “We challenge Babachir Lawal to give a detailed breakdown of his so-called “aggregated facts sourced from independent sources,” which he claimed proved that Obi won the election or forever keep mute. That he did not provide these facts to help Obi prove his case before the Presidential Elections Petitions Court is a massive disservice if not betrayal of his political principal.
“Babachir Lawal ought to have known that running a jaundiced commentary on a matter before the Supreme Court is the height of irresponsibility. But he is still nursing bitterness and vindictiveness over his failed dream of running on a joint ticket with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Indeed, Babachir Lawal is in dire need of professional counseling and deserves our collective pity. It is obvious he may never get over the pain of being tossed into the dustbin of political ignominy by President Bola Tinubu who, against all odds, defeated Mr Peter Obi that exploited our religious and ethnic fault lines in his campaign for the nation’s highest office.
“Thankfully, Nigerians across all ethnic and religious divides, saw through Babachir Lawal’s and Peter Obi’s shenanigans and voted for the best candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu,” Morka said.
The APC spokesman added that it was very uncharitable for Lawal “to call to question the professional competence of President Tinubu’s appointees, some of whom he cannot hold a candle to their political and professional accomplishments.
“Babachir Lawal is one lightweight politician who thinks himself a heavyweight. He failed spectacularly as a politician in his State of Adamawa where in three election circles he could not deliver his ward and local government in his Hong Local Government.
“Despite his legendary failure as a politician, former President Muhammadu Buhari in deference to diversity appointed him to the high office of SGF where he was unceremoniously sacked on account of very poor performance and dishonourable conduct. A man like Babachir Lawal is in no position to offer an opinion on the competence of President Tinubu’s appointees,” Morka said.