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Goodluck Jonathan |
Jonathan said this in a statement issued by his media aide, Ikechukwu Eze.
Oshiomhole had earlier blamed the former President for introducing vote-buying into Nigerian politics during the 2015 general elections.
In his response, Jonathan said the APC chairman might be going through too much pressure as a result of his new office.
According to Daily Post, he said
“We really do not know the real reason for this misleading falsehood,
at this point in time. However, we can only guess that Mr Oshiomhole who
is currently operating under tremendous stress in the bid to steady the
already floundering ship of his administration as the new leader of his
party, may have got himself entangled in a voyage of tactless
desperation.
“His recent flip-flops where
he praised Governor Samuel Ortom and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso one
day only to denounce them the very next day, is enough evidence of his
fragile psychological state.
“Not only is
he content on squabbling with members of the opposition, we note the
self-destructive tendencies of Oshiomhole who is locked in a feud with
members of his own party including the minister of labour, Chris Ngige,
and a host of APC Governors. It appears that Mr Oshiomhole’s
psychological strain may have reached boiling point.
“On
the vexatious issue of ‘vote-buying’, which has unfortunately found its
way into our election lexicon, this is what we know: It is obvious that
the shameful development in our democratic experience became very
glaring during the 2016 gubernatorial elections in Edo State; an
exercise that took place more than one year after President Jonathan had
left office.
“It is therefore
disingenuous for any politician or group to link the former President
with the anomaly, no matter how they want to stretch the now-failing
blame game.
“While in Office as President
between 2010 and 2015, Jonathan conducted many elections including the
2011 and 2015 general elections, and many off-season gubernatorial and
parliamentary elections in some States like Anambra, Ekiti, Ondo and
Edo; and not for once did the issue of vote buying come up in the
assessment of those elections.
“It is
instructive that in each case, the former President was given a clean
bill, with both local and international observers commending him for
having supervised a credible and transparent process.
“One of those who gave the former President a clean bill of health,
was Mr Oshiomhole himself who on July 16, 2012, said: ‘What the Edo
election has confirmed is that when the President and Commander-in-Chief
puts the country first and he conducts himself as a statesman not just
as a party leader, credible elections are possible.’
“When you juxtapose the above statement with Mr
Oshiomhole’s current statement, it becomes obvious that the APC Chairman
is suffering from multiple personality syndrome and has a Jekyll and
Hyde schizophrenia.”
The issue of vote buying was brought to the fore during the recently concluded Ekiti Governorship election where the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling APC were reportedly offering money to voters.
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