Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, of attempting to create a wedge between him and President Muhammadu Buhari. 

“PDP and Atiku should remember not to get high on their own smoke. No political blackmail and an attempt to create a conflict between Tinubu and his long-term ally, President Muhammadu Buhari can succeed,” Mr Tinubu said on Thursday. “We have bad news for Atiku and his handlers: their latest mischief is therefore doomed to fail.”

This came barely twenty-four hours after the PDP slammed Mr Tinubu for accusing the Buhari regime of using the fuel scarcity and recently introduced naira notes to block his chances at next month’s election.  

“Let them increase the price of fuel, only they know where they have hoarded fuel, they hoarded money, they hoarded naira; we will go and vote and we will win. Even if they changed the ink on naira notes,” Mr Tinubu said on Wednesday at his campaign in Abeokuta, Ogun state capital. “Whatever their plans, it will come to nought. We are going to win. Those in the PDP will lose (won ma lule).”

But in a swift reaction to Mr Tinubu’s controversial statement, the PDP said that the APC presidential candidate was only shedding crocodile tears as imminent defeat stares him in the face.

The opposition party added that Mr Tinubu’s tirades cannot win him the presidential seat in the February 25 poll. 

“How can Asiwaju Tinubu accuse an administration he had been a part of since 2015 of trying to sabotage the 2023 elections except he is making revelations to Nigerians about their plans? It is imperative to state that Nigerians, who are prepared to trek distances to cast their votes are the patriots who have been at the butt of pains which the government Asiwaju Tinubu installed has foisted on them.

“In any case, from the songs of lamentation of Tinubu, it is clear that his Presidential life ambition has collapsed,” Kola Ologbodiyan, spokesperson for the PDP said in a statement. 

But Mr Tinubu in a statement said the opposition party and its candidate, Mr Abubakar are working in “cahoots with fifth columnists” in the system to inflict avoidable pains on the  hapless people of the country for a political end.

“Nigerians should no longer be in doubt about those working in cahoots with fifth columnists in the system to inflict avoidable pains on our hapless people for a political end.

“No sooner Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu empathised with the Nigerian people facing the dual crises of fuel and new Naira notes scarcity, than the opposition PDP and the Atiku camp issued a knee-jerk response, derailing from the issues, distorting Asiwaju’s statement and trying, in vain, to create a wedge between our presidential candidate and President Muhammadu Buhari,”  he said in the statement issued by Bayo Onanuga, a spokesperson for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, on Thursday.

He added that “when the guilty are afraid of being uncovered, they try to push back with red-herring.” 

“For the records, Tinubu during APC campaign rally at Abeokuta on Wednesday, in his statement, did not mention, blame or accuse President Muhammadu Buhari for the current challenges in the country.

“Asiwaju Tinubu was only adverting government’s attention to the sabotage being carried out by some Fifth Columnists in the system, possibly working in cahoots with the PDP,” the statement added.