The Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has attacked the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, over his comment on the health of its candidate, Bola Tinubu.

The council, in a statement by one of its spokespersons, Bayo Onanuga, on Tuesday, said Mr Obi lacks the qualification to comment on Mr Tinubu’s health.

Mr Obi had in a viral video claimed that Mr Tinubu is not physically fit for the office of president but that most people around him are supporting his ambition because of the money they will get from him.

He further claimed that a Tinubu support group sent out a message urging Yoruba people not to vote for him based on ethnic sentiments.

“Yoruba shine your eyes o, if you vote for Peter Obi, it is automatically voting for seaports in South-South and South East. The Igbos will stop coming to Lagos State to invest, rather they will go to Delta and Rivers states, they may even stop building houses in Lagos. It will affect a lot of Yorubas. Yoruba ro nu o,” Mr Obi said in the video.

On Monday, Festus Keyamo, another spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, had responded to the comment made by Mr Obi. He accused Mr Obi of stoking ethnic rhetoric.

Obi an incurable liar— Onanuga

In the statement, Mr Onanuga described Mr Obi as an “incurable liar”, noting that his comments are unbecoming of a presidential candidate.

“We find these statements unbecoming of a man who nurses the ambition to be Nigeria’s next president.

“Since he is not Asiwaju’s doctor and is not privy to his medical record, Obi, the poor philosophy graduate, has again disgracefully elevated what has for long been a beer parlour gossip and social media lie being propagated by his IPOB supporters. Obi in his characteristic manner is amplifying falsehood which should not have a place in a decent political campaign,” he said.

He insisted that the 70-year-old Mr Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, is fit to continue the campaign to be president.

“We want to make it crystal clear to all the traducers of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate that Asiwaju Tinubu is not ill. He is hale and hearty. A man who works for 20 hours a day, meeting people and strategising about finding solutions to Nigeria’s problems, cannot be said to be ill. We make bold to say that our candidate is as fit as the fiddle,” the statement said.

“We also want to educate Peter Obi and his horde of gullible followers that Tinubu’s millions of supporters countrywide are backing him not because of any pecuniary benefit. Asiwaju Tinubu supporters are rooting for him because of their strong belief in his demonstrable ability to provide progressive leadership for our country.

“They are supporting him because they believe in his capacity as a transformative leader, who once made a historic mark in Lagos State and is capable of replicating same in Nigeria.

“On this score alone, Tinubu is unmatched in the field by even the perennial presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. He is certainly not in the same league with the rabble-rousing Peter Obi by all leadership parameters.

“Coming so soon after his gaffe and falsehood in accusing Tinubu of mobilising Yoruba voters not to support him, Obi is coming across as a dangerous politician and a demagogue capable of spewing all manners of lies just to get the votes.

“Already discredited with statistical lies and fallacies, Obi is now treading a new ground, spreading lies with unfounded claims on Asiwaju Tinubu’s health.

Mr Onanuga said Mr Obi has no record of performance after eight years as governor of Anambra State.

“A politician who left no worthy legacy in eight years as governor of Anambra state, who instead built his own family Next Cash and Carry retail mall in Port Harcourt and Abuja, not in Awka, the capital of the state he governed is latching on lies after lies to hoodwink his motley crowd of impressionistic and gullible followers,” he said.

He, therefore, warned Mr Obi to desist from politics of falsehood, adding, “We advise him to canvass on issues and for once give his hollow campaign some credibility by refraining from telling lies.”

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