BMO to Atiku, Obi: Eschew politics of lies, deceit

The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has described some presidential candidates as power mongers who are bent on using disinformation and divisive rhetorics to curry sympathy votes from unsuspecting Nigerians.

In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, BMO said it was not surprising to hear opposition candidates using the recent NBA conference to take pot shots at the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

“With Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) having two kindred spirits in the person of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party candidate Peter Obi in the 2023 race, we were not exactly surprised to hear their rhetorics at the NBA conference, but what we find disturbing is their resort to disinformation.

“For instance, a man who as Vice President presided over a privatisation process that shortchanged the Nigerian people and pushed millions of people into the unemployment market had the temerity to promise to tackle a problem he was part of.

“And knowing how he once tagged the PDP as a hopeless basket case at the time he was hibernating in the All Progressives Congress (APC), we view his tantrums exactly the way Senator Kashim Shettima described it- ‘a worn out rhetoric and sophistry of pretentious politicians’.

“We dare say nothing could be more pedestrian as the position of the Labour Party candidate who, while describing Nigeria as a failed state, opted as usual to pluck figures from the air when he claimed that there are over 100m people living in poverty in the country.

“It is no longer news that the former Anambra governor conjures up figures and. scenarios to impress his audience but it should be a concern to hear former top government functionaries mocking the military just to score cheap political points on security.

“it is ironic that on the same day that both men who are seeking to be commander in chief of the armed forces were downplaying the hardwork of security agencies, the media were replete with news of a successful air raid on the Sambisa forest enclave of the leader of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) Fiya Ba Yuram and other terrorist strongholds.

“While we acknowledge that the country is facing security challenges, it is depressing to see opposition politicians making light of the good work the military authorities have been doing in recent years”, the statement added.

BMO also decried the manner the opposition blamed the current administration for the nation’s challenges

“As for the economy, we have a government that has twice taken the country out of recession that it could not be blamed for.

“We have had a situation where the party Obi and Atiku served did nothing to wean the nation from oil for 16 years inspite of oil booms but instead left massive infrastructure deficit and a not-too-resilient economy.

“inflation is a global phenomenon today and even at that, the country’s current rate is at same level with what it was in 2005 when the PDP Presidential candidate who is making lots of promises was Vice President.

“It was also a period when PDP introduced commercial tricycle popularly known as Keke NAPEP as a one- size-fits all poverty eradication solution compared to the basket of initiatives which the Buhari-era National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) represents.

“We need to remind Nigerians how In 2012, there were 112m out of a population of 167m people living below the poverty threshold and that was a time of sustained period of higher oil prices with no covid-19 or a Russia- Ukraine war creating havoc anywhere in the world”.

BMO maintained that the Buhari administration has done far more than previous administrations with little resources.