Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
THE controversy over the whereabouts of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Major General Muhammadu Buhari has continued un?abated.
Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Peter Ayodele Fayose, on Monday faulted claims by the APC that Buhari granted a studio interview with a television station in the United Kingdom at the weekend.
He took journalists into a room in Transcorp Hil?ton, Abuja, which bears uncanny resemblance to the photograph presented by the APC at the weekend as the studio where the alleged in?terview was conducted.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) joined in the controversy, accusing the APC of telling barefaced lies, wondering how many other alleged lies the op?position party might have told Nigerians.
Fayose insisted that Buhari, 72, is ill and is physically unfit to lead the country.
The APC?s campaign spokes?man, Alhaji Garba Shehu, told the Daily Times that he was not prepared to trade words with Fayose.
It was, however, confirmed that Buhari will address the Chatam House in London on Thursday this week, as dis?closed by the APC before Buhari travelled out of the country.
Fears over Buhari?s health were further heightened when the former military ruler did not attend a well-advertised meet-the-people event in London last Saturday but was represented by his wife, Aishat.
Fayose on Monday described the interview Buhari purported?ly had with a television station in the UK, ?All Eyes on African TV?, as a fluke and deceitful.
Fayose also declared that Pres?ident Goodluck Jonathan has already won the yet to be held March 28 presidential election.
He said Jonathan has per?formed excellently and that vic?tory is sure for the incumbent.
The Governor spoke at a crowded press conference in Abuja, the nation?s capital.
He accused both Buhari and the APC of cutting corners and engaging in massive propagan?da over the said interview.
The APC Presidential Cam?paign Organisation, had last Sat?urday circulated a picture of Bu?hari which he purportedly had during the said interview with one Kemi Fadojutimi in the UK.
However the Governor main?tained that the picture was taken at Room 880 at Transcorp Hilton hotel in Abuja.
Fayose?s yesterday press con?ference, similarly, took place in the same room 880.
The Governor, at the press conference said: ?This is height of desperation, it is misleading. This is the character of a man who wants to be the president of Nigeria.
?General Buhari was in Transcorp (Hilton hotel) telling Nigerians he was in London. He should stop deceiving Nigeri?ans?, he said.
The governor maintained that the settings in the room, the chairs where the interview and the interviewee sat, the table, flower and table light were simi?lar to those in the picture shown to Nigerians after the purported UK interview.
He said: ?I am here to present to you fact. Fact speaks for itself. APC knows Buhari is not hold?ing any meeting in London.
?General Buhari is not well, he is sick in the hospital. This is not personal. I am not against the North, I am not against the South. Our leaders should show us their medical records.
?I am saying that Nigeria needs a healthy leader, who will be able to address the problems of this country.
?Even in advanced countries those wishing to lead present their medical records because they know the amount of energy to be deployed?, he stated.
Fayose equally denied that he sent people to trail the APC pres?idential candidate during his working visit in London.
He said such claim was noth?ing but petty.
The Governor pointed out that at Buhari?s age, he (Fayose) doesn?t need to run after him, saying, ?My prayer is that he lives long?.
He added, ?Buhari is (too) old even to govern a state. He is frail, old and not strong to run the af?fairs of this country?.
The Director, Media and Pub?licity of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, Malam Garba Shehu, declined com?ments on Fayose?s allegation.
He told Daily Times: ?We are not going to join issues with him, we have issues of security, stolen money and unemployment in the country. Those are the chal?lenges facing Nigerians and that is what we want to talk about?.
The PDP?s Presidential Cam?paign Organisation (PDPPCO) also on Monday said the ?rev?elation? that the APC lied about the location of General Buhari?s interview for the TV show ? was proof that it is a party founded and built on deceit.
The PDPPCO, in a statement yesterday in Abuja by its Direc?tor of Media and Publicity, Femi Fani-Kayode said it is now an open thing that the APC lied about the location of General Buhari?s interview with Kemi Fadojutimi of the USA-based TV show ?All Eyes on Africa?.
According to Chief Fani-Kayo?de, ?It has come to light that the All Progressives Congress lied about the location of General Buhari?s interview with Kemi Fadojutimi of the USA-based TV show ?All Eyes on Africa?.
?While the APC had earlier claimed that the interview was conducted in London, UK, Mr Mukhtar Dan?Iyan has proven through his Twitter handle, @AyeDee, that the interview was actually conducted in the Trans?corp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.
?This revelation proves the point we have made at various times in the past that the APC is a party founded and built on deceit.
?As many Nigerians are now aware, in 41 tweets posted on his timeline on Sunday, 22nd February, 2015, Mr Dan?Iyan (@AyeDee), proved to the whole world that the interview under review, which the APC led Nige?rians to believe was conducted in faraway London, United King?dom, was actually carried out here in Abuja at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel.
?Moreover, despite desper?ate attempts by the APC pro?paganda machinery to coerce newspapers from retracting the fraudulent picture of Buhari?s purported London interview, The Guardian, one of the news?papers that printed the picture on its front page of Sunday, 22nd February, 2015, was quick to publish a regretful retraction on page 2 of the newspaper?s Mon?day, 23rd February, 2015 edition.
?In the retraction, The Guard?ian wrote, and I quote, ?The front page picture of yesterday in The Guardian on Sunday was not taken during the visit of Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) to London as we erroneously stated. The picture was actually taken in Abuja when he was be?ing interviewed by a journalist. The error is regretted.?
?We want to be very clear about this: Nobody here wishes General Buhari anything other than good health. If the General is unwell, it is only right for him to seek medical attention wher?ever he chooses.
?Anybody can fall ill at any time. It is God that keeps us all. And we wish General Buhari good health so that he can spend quality time with his family in his retirement.
?The issue at stake here is the credibility crisis the APC has brought upon itself with these pointless lies.
?As many Nigerians are now asking: If the APC can lie about the location of an ordinary in?terview, what else has the party been lying about?
?Was the APC lying when the party said it had not cloned Per?manent Voter Cards (PVCs)?
?Was the APC lying when the party said it had no plans to hack into Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC?s) server even after hacking videos were found on its computers by the State Security Service (SSS)?
?Has the APC been lying all along every time it has promised Nigerians ?change? in its cease?less propaganda? Of the utmost importance, is it possible that every single thing about the APC is a lie since the party itself was founded and built on lies?
?We invite Nigerians to assess the situation for themselves.
?Let me conclude by remind?ing Nigerians that, irrespective of the number of lies that the APC decides to cover itself in, we in the PDP, and our presiden?tial candidate, President Good?luck Ebele Jonathan, remain committed to implementing our party manifestoes, touching the lives of Nigerians, transforming our nation and bequeathing a legacy of development to future generations?, he said.
