Saraki’s aide questions APC spokesman’s competence, challenges him to national debate

The build up to the 2019 Presidential election is getting interesting by the day, as Yusuph Olaniyonu the media aide to the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has questioned the competence of the Acting National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Yekini Nabena, who he described as an upstart.

Olaniyonu, who was reacting to a statement by Nabena on Wednesday, where the APC spokesman called on Nigerians to take Saraki’s quest for the nation’s presidency with a pinch of salt, described Nabena as a man who stays in Abuja but waits to sign press releases composed in Lagos.

The Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and Publicity, in a statement on Wednesday, also challenged Nabena to a national television debate to issues the ruling party said borders on Saraki’s integrity, antecedents and capability on any television station of his choice.

It would be recalled that Nabena had on Wednesday described Saraki as somebody who “has repeatedly displayed his character as extremely selfish, deceitful, untrustworthy and unreliable. His only goal is to get to the top, stay at the top, ruin or wreck whatever he finds there or in the event of failure, collapse the system or process.”

Olaniyonu in his statement said: “The Senate President will not be distracted by the antics of an upstart who lives in Abuja but waits to sign press statements composed for him from Lagos.

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“When his masters show their face, we will debate all the issues they have raised and the ones they may wish to even concoct.

“Dr. Saraki does not have any credibility issues except the ones concocted by these putative demagogues to whom the Senate President has become a nightmare.

“One should ask, what is APC’s business with an aspirant of another party?

“The truth is APC is scared stiff of the possibility of a Saraki candidacy. Fortunately, they have no role in deciding that.

“Meanwhile, Mr. Yekinni Nabena should know by now that many people in the media believe he is a robot and has no face.

“Here is an opportunity for him to come out of his hiding and come on a national television to debate all the issues he has raised with one of the aides of the Senate President.

“We hope he will take up this challenge and stop behaving like a masquerade. He is free to choose any independent TV station of his choice.”

By Timothy Enietan-Matthews….

 

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