APC Berates TAN’s Spokesperson, Insists Pro-Jonathan Rallies Offend Sensibilities

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, Politics Sunday, September 14th, 2014

By Funmilayo Omidiji

The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has maintained the serial rallies by the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) to seek support for President Goodluck Jonathan second term in office, represent assault on the intelligence and sensibilities of Nigerians.

Reacting to TAN statement issued last week in defence of what it described sycophantic rallies and said was deceptively powered by the proceeds of massive corruption under the clueless and incompetent Jonathan Administration, APC in a statement issued in Lagos Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, insisted no amount of inversion of reasoning by the pro – Jonathan campiagn organ and foot soldiers could wash the rallies clean of shame and disgust.

It argued those described as ‘morons and sycophants’ by Prof. Wole Soyinka could be engaging in celebratory rallies when soldiers were being killed on the Boko Haram battle front, when citizens were daily being dispatched to their graves by insurgents and when the country has been caught in the web of deadly Ebola which has claimed many innocent lives.

APC wondered how the inauguration of its regional executives in Sokoto could be equated with the rallies being held across the country by TAN, which it said was another name for the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), as well as another name for “shame, incompetence, cluelessness, cruelty, insincerity and insensitivity”.

Alhaji Mohammed challenged, if President Jonathan had not been running a government reputed for impunity, there was no way any political party would have brazenly kick-started electioneering campaign under the guise of an ”NGO” coordinated by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ministers, State Governors and other public officials, at a time like this.

”The PDP-led Federal Government and its ‘NGO’ called TAN are bare-faced liars and cheats. They have seized an undue advantage over every other party by defying the nation’s laws to start an early electioneering campaign and no one, not even INEC, dares call them to order! Little wonder, their podiums are collapsing under the weight of their lies,” the party exploded.

It slammed the group’s Director of Communications Udenta Udenta who it tagged was self-serving for attempting to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians by shamelessly justifying the insane rallies.

”We have the following posers for the deceptive and pigs-at-the trough TAN organizers: If Mr Udenta and his co- travelers were parents, relations or friends of any of the over 200 missing Chibok schoolgirls, wouldn’t such TAN rallies offend their sensibilities? If Mr Udenta or any of his co-travelers in TAN had lost a relation or dear one to Ebola in Port Harcourt, won’t such a rally in the same city about the same time offend their sensibilities? Can Mr. Udenta tell Nigerians the source of funding of TAN? Can Mr. Udenta tell Nigerians how much TAN has spent so far in canvassing for Jonathan’s re-election or for that matter how much it spends daily on radio jingles, television and newspapers advert, billboards etc? Can Mr. Udenta tender to the public TAN’s audited account”? querried APC.

”We know Mr. Udenta has no answers to these posers, but we have no iota of doubt that Nigerians know that TAN is funded and powered by the massive corruption of this government, including but not limited to the missing $20 billion, the over one trillion fuel subsidy scam, the kerosene subsidy scam, the hundreds of thousands of barrels of our crude oil being stolen daily, the Pension scam, the Malibu Oil scandal etc. We also know through which top functionaries of government funds are funneled to TAN,” the party disclosed.

APC said it would not stop calling for an end to the TAN rallies until common sense prevails and the President, who waited for an international condemnation of his #BringBackJonathan hash tag before taking action, was again forced to call his selfish sycophants to order.

”Our soldiers are combating Boko Haram literally with their bare hands and under the most intolerable conditions and our government is partying around town. As we write, a Nigerian war plane has been declared missing in the battle zone and our government is celebrating. Clearly, if a fraction of the funds TAN had been expending in its multi-billion naira adverts on radio, television, newspapers, billboard, online and on London buses, not to talk of the mobilization for rallies, can be made available to our soldiers, Boko Haram would have long been forgotten.

”Again, these times call for deep reflection and not for deep throats. These times call for cool-headed and decent men and women to realize that a nation at war cannot be celebrating, because it sends the very wrong message to the men and women deployed to the battle zone to protect our nation. This is not about politics, this is about common sense, sensibilities and decency,” APC emphazised.