Former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Uche Secondus has asked handlers of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, to come clean about the health of their candidate, instead of engaging in a needless spat with the proprietor of ThisDAY and Arise media group, Nduka Obiagbena.
Secondus, who said he had followed the issues behind the ongoing war of words, wondered why the APC presidential media team chose to leave the business of marketing their principal, for which they were appointed, and instead engage in a faceoff with Obaigbena.
Secondus, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, noted that rather than joining issues with Obaigbena, the APC team should have used the time and energy to position their candidate positively in the eyes of the public.
Secondus said: “Unless they are surrendering to the town talks that they have nothing to sell in the current political space and have chosen to cause unnecessary distractions, given the persisting tireless role of Nigeria media in the socio-political development of this country from independence in 1960 and continued in the June 12 democratic struggle that birthed this Republic, one expects the media to get involved in some more pragmatic matters not on undesirable squabbles.
“From whatever perspective you want to look at it, Arise TV and THISADAY Newspapers have not gone outside the dictates of their profession in asking a presidential candidate of a ruling party to present himself for public scrutiny.
“It’s indeed an aberration that a person aspiring to rule over 200 million people is dodging from talking to them or answering their questions even from his media establishment.”
He urged the APC media not to cover up if their candidate is seriously challenged in anyway to face public interrogation because that was what is required to avoid the deceit and propaganda of 2015 that brought the country where we are today.
“The health of your candidate should worry you because it would be unpatriotic to foist on the country unhealthy person for a position that requires complete mental and physical alertness,” he added.
Secondus, now a Technical Adviser to the Presidential Candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, added: “I, therefore, wish to counsel the APC media to concentrate their energy and resources in pushing their candidate and his qualities if any to the public instead of dissipating energy and resources on a man whose contributions to the growth of the sector is glaring and outstanding.“