Daniel Bwala, the spokesperson for the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign, has criticised President Bola Tinubu for not mentioning his opponents in the just concluded election, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi in his Monday Democracy Day speech.
Tinubu was declared the winner of the February 25 presidential election, while PDP’s Atiku and Labour Party’s Obi came second and third, respectively. Obi and Tinubu are contesting the result in Court.
“How in the world could you talk about democracy and the fight for democracy in Nigeria without mentioning Atiku Abubakar?” Bwala asked during Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday,June 14.
“The President did not mention Atiku Abubakar, and that, to me, is not reflective of the unity posture.”
Bwala said that the day was a celebration of the life and struggles of Chief Moshood “MKO” Abiola.
In 2018, former President Muhammadu Buhari declared the date as the country’s official Democracy Day, no longer May 29, because it reflects the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election presumably won by Abiola.
“You need to know that the person who stepped down for Abiola in the primaries was Atiku Abubakar and the struggle continued,” Bwala said.
“So, I thought that he should be able to extend that olive branch. Even Peter Obi; he ought to have mentioned Peter Obi because Peter Obi, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, represented a move we’ve never had, a third force. We’ve never had a third force.”
According to him, there were previous efforts to form a third force that were not as successful.
“Coming at a time when the younger generation said they wanted a new thing, I felt that [Obi’s feat] was contributing to democratic ideals,” the PDP campaign spokesman argued.
“He didn’t say anything about the EndSARS. The EndSARS was a struggle of young people. These are acts and moves that entrench democracy.”