The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has faulted former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, over his claim that Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) won the February 25 presidential election.
It described the state as the height of irresponsibility.
The party spoke through a statement last night by its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka.
It dismissed Lawal’s claim and knocked for his incoherent aspersions on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the exalted office he occupies.
The former SGF in a statement earlier on yesterday claimed that the LP candidate and not President Tinubu won the election poll.
He claimed in the statement that data from independent sources indicated that Obi had majority votes while Atiku came second in the election.
But in the reaction, the APC said the former SGF outburst was “nothing but a figment of his warped imagination rather than hard facts and figures”.
The APC statement reads,
“The party noted that after a long hiatus leaking his wounds from the monumental electoral loss of his candidate in the last presidential election; Lawal unabashedly is out again, peddling gibberish, rather than learning from his political misadventure with equanimity.
“The defeat of his principal, Peter Obi, at the poll has done incalculable damage to 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.
“A clear sign of his disconnect from reality was his reference to the election held in May 2023, rather than February.”
The governing party challenged 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.
It said,
“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 a betrayal of his political principles.
“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 counselling and deserves our collective pity. 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 who 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.”
The APC further berated Lawal for calling into question the professional competence of President Tinubu’s appointees, some of whom he cannot hold a candle to their political and professional accomplishments.
The party said,
“Babachir Lawal is one lightweight politician who thinks of himself as 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 …conduct.
“A man like Babachir Lawal is in no position to offer an opinion on the competence of President Tinubu’s appointees.
“We are convinced that these appointees would justify the confidence reposed in them by the President by delivering on the promises of the Renewed Hope Agenda of this administration.”
The party counselled the former SGF to concentrate on managing his farm and stop constituting himself into a needless distraction unbefitting his age and status.
