The Presidential candidate for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has laid the blame for the soldiers who died in Metele at Buhari’s feet.
According to Atiku, the Service Chiefs were attending the launch of Buhari’s ‘Next Level’ campaign at the time of the massacre and that perhaps the attack could have been averted if the service chiefs were at their jobs rather than with the President.
Atiku’s words were contained in a statement released by the Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation
The statement was in response to an earlier statement by the All Progressive Party (APC) in which they accused the Presidential aspirant of “selfishness and mercantilism”
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The statement lauded the former APC stalwart, recalling that the Presidential aspirant had asked for all gifts and other possible possessions that were to be given to him on his birthday, go instead to the family of the slain soldiers.
The statement said it was rather churlish of APC to now criticise the former Vice President.
The statement read in part: “Ironically, the All Progressives Congress that is now accusing Atiku Abubakar, has not deemed it fit to pay tribute to these gallant men who gave their lives in order to secure the lives of others.
“As a party, they have not issued even one statement condoling with the slain or their families, neither have they offered any tangible support to the families of these fallen heroes. Yet, they are accusing the Waziri, who has shown commitment to honouring these heroes, of selfishness.
“As a matter of fact, we now know through Reuters report, that these real Nigerian heroes were killed on November 18, 2018, which was the exact time that the candidate of the APC, Muhammadu Buhari, invited the service chiefs to attend the launch of the plagiarised #NextLevel launch at the banquet hall of the Presidential Villa.
“The nation can only wonder if the Metele massacre could have been avoided if the APC and President Buhari had allowed the service chiefs to focus on their core duties, rather than on his ill-fated re-election campaign.”