The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has called on Nigerians to reject Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar in the February 25, 2022 poll. The council described the former vice‑president as “Nigeria’s number one public enemy” after he called for the deadline on the old naira swap not to be extended.
In a statement released Friday, APC PCC Director of Media and Publicity Bayo Onanuga said the alleged sabotage of the naira‑notes swap and the resulting fuel scarcity revealed Atiku’s true character. “This is a man who wants to be President and does not mind presiding over the graves of Nigerians as long as his ambition is fulfilled,” the statement read. “It is crystal clear to every conscientious Nigerian that Atiku Abubakar and the PDP do not have the country’s best interests at heart. They have become desperadoes who will wish calamity on the nation if it helps them win an election they are destined to lose spectacularly.”
Onanuga went on to label Atiku “public enemy number one in Nigeria,” calling him “evil personified” and urging voters to reject him at the polls. He contrasted Atiku with APC candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, saying that if Atiku truly cared for the poor, he would not support a policy that has become a heavy burden for the people.
The statement noted that since the Central Bank introduced its cash‑limit and new naira‑notes swap policies, Atiku and the PDP have remained opportunistically silent, hoping to benefit from the discomfort and resentment these measures generate for the ruling APC. While Atiku and the PDP were allegedly aligned with “saboteurs” and “fifth‑columnists” among money‑deposit banks and oil marketers—creating a logjam to influence the February 25 election—Tinubu “courageously pitched his tent with the poor masses” most affected by the crisis.
After losing initiative at an APC rally in Abeokuta, Atiku made a half‑hearted appeal to the Central Bank to “slightly” extend the swap deadline. Onanuga expressed confusion over Atiku’s call for the Central Bank not to extend the February 10 deadline, despite ongoing hardship for many Nigerians who cannot meet basic needs due to cash shortages and empty ATMs. He added that anyone who lives in Nigeria, not Dubai, and visits banks and ATMs would see how the Central Bank’s poorly timed policy is causing suffering.
Finally, Onanuga criticized Atiku as a political leader disconnected from the people he seeks to govern, suggesting that years of comfortable living in Dubai have drained him of empathy.
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