Chief Femi Fani-Kayode
"Says they sabotaged Jonathan"
The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday took a new dimension as the Director of Media and Publicity of the party’s presidential campaign organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, described some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party as traitors, ingrate and cowards not deserving of their offices.
"Says they sabotaged Jonathan"
The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday took a new dimension as the Director of Media and Publicity of the party’s presidential campaign organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, described some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party as traitors, ingrate and cowards not deserving of their offices.
Fani-Kayode dismissed the allegations of hate campaigns allegedly
orchestrated by the campaign directorate as one of the reasons why
President Goodluck Jonathan lost the presidential election and indeed
PDP losing the general election.
He called on the NWC members to resign if they have any modicum of
dignity as some Labour leaders did after losing elections in the United
Kingdom.
Fani-Kayode also accused the NWC of using hate campaigns against the All Progressives Congress (APC) as it described APC as a ‘Janjaweed’ and Taliban party.
Fani-Kayode also accused the NWC of using hate campaigns against the All Progressives Congress (APC) as it described APC as a ‘Janjaweed’ and Taliban party.
The National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh, had last week
said President Jonathan lost the presidential election because of the
hate campaigns introduced by the presidential campaign organisation of
the party.
But reacting yesterday, Fani-Kayode dismissed the allegation, saying:
“The truth is that their allegations are not only baseless but it is
also unadulterated rubbish and those who made them are nothing but
ingrates, cowards and traitors who know nothing about politics,
political campaigns, intellectual discourse or political engagement.
“They are simply trying to revise and re-write history in order to
cover up their treachery, weaknesses and inadequacies. They are fuelled
by hate and envy and worse of all, right from the start, they had no
interest in fighting for our leader and presidential candidate,
President Jonathan, or in ensuring that he won the election.”
According the PDP presidential campaign spokesman, the NWC of the party
were envious of the campaign council, saying: “From day one, all they
did was sulk about the fact that a presidential campaign organisation
had been set up and that they would not be able to have control of the
campaign themselves or have access to the resources that we were given.
At every point, they tried to undermine our efforts and sabotage us but
we ignored them and remained focused on doing our job despite their
provocations.
“From day one, all they were interested in was controlling others and
telling them what to do. They were not in the fray, they refused to
enter the heat of battle and all they did was moan and bicker from the
side walk like little children.
“What we were doing and attempting to do was lost on them because they
had never taken anything seriously and they found it hard to comprehend
the logic and style of those of us who did it.
“Their arrogance was insufferable, they were an unmitigated disaster
and their leadership style was abysmal. It still is. If any group of
people were responsible for our loss, it was them. They were envious of
the PDP presidential campaign organisation and its high profile and they
are nothing but a bunch of bitter and treacherous ingrates who have no
business leading a political party.”
However, he exonerated some of the NWC members, explaining that: “It is
important to note that not all of them were bad. Some of them like Uche
Secondus, Kema Chikwe, Jalo, Wale Oladipo, the National Youth Leader
and a few others did very best and supported the president as best as
they could but the majority of them were terrible.”
According to Fani-Kayode, “What they need to understand and appreciate
is that we will not sit by idly and allow them re-write history or make
us the fall guys. The only reason we have not opened up on them is out
of respect for President Jonathan and because we want to ensure that our
party remains united. That does not however mean that we are fools or
that we will allow ourselves to be turned into sitting ducks or
someone’s punching bag.
“That does not mean that we will allow them to treat us as soft targets
or that we are incapable of hitting back. The lies, falsehood,
innuendos and terrible stories that they are bandying around about us
are just despicable and if they do not stop, they will divide the party
and utterly destroy it. That is the sad and bitter truth. In playing
this game blame and pointing fingers at others, they are biting off far
more than they can chew.
“The fact is that the presidential campaign organisation not only did
an excellent job but we also fought a damn good fight. We fought a
better fight than any other organ of the party had fought over the last
two or three years against a relentless, well-funded, well-motivated and
well-organised opposition. Before the presidential campaign orgaisation
came into being, the PDP had virtually lost its voice and those who do
not recognise this have obviously lost touch with reality. Those that
attack us and cast aspersion on our character and blame us for the
failure of our party and our president to win the election are not
seeing things clearly.
“They are hopelessly confused and they have no idea how political
campaigns are conducted in the civilised world. Their accusations are
not only baseless, but they are also self serving,” he said.
Fani-Kayode said: “Again looking inwards, was it the presidential
campaign organisation that first coined the phrase Janjaweed and Taliban
party and labelled the APC as the Janjaweed and Taliban party? No, it
was not. It was nobody in our campaign organisation rather it was
somebody in the NWC of the PDP. Is that not what you call a campaign of
hatred? “
He accused the NWC members of doing underhand deal with the aspirants in the primary elections.
“Instead of leading the party these few individuals in the NWC were
busy doing deals with the APC secretly. We in the Campaign Organisation
were not like others that were collecting monies from all the various
PDP aspirants in the states and promising them the party’s nomination
and ticket.
“This led to a lot of problems within the party because in the end they
did not give those aspirants what they asked for and what they
promised. Consequently many of those aspirants rebelled and worked
against us during the elections,” Fani-Kayode said
0 Comments