The spokesperson for the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign, Dino Melaye, has asserted that the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu’s absence from the Presidential Peace Accord signing ceremony on Thursday was done on purpose.
Africa Today News, New York had earlier reported that while the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar, the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and other party candidates were physically present at the event which took place in Abuja on Thursday, Tinubu was represented by his running mate and former Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima.
In the face of the speculations that the APC candidate may be battling some health crisis, reports emerged on Thursday that he is currently in London, United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, in his reaction to Tinubu’s absence, Dino in a video on his Facebook page, said he knows why the former Lagos governor was absent.
Read Also: 2023: I Will Campaign In ‘Every Part Of Nigeria’ – Tinubu
He however failed to reveal the reason the APC candidate was absent.
He said, ‘I noticed that Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the only presidential candidate who was absent at the signing of the National Peace Accord today. He was obviously the only one absent.
‘I know why he was absent. Unfortunately, there was no provision for thumbprinting. You definitely have to sign. Atiku signed and that is all I have to say’.
Popular social activist, Aisha Yesufu who had taken to her verified Twitter page to question Shettima’s signing of the document.
‘No way should anyone be signing a peace accord on behalf of anyone!
‘Bola Ahmed Tinubu has to sign for himself,’ Yesufu wrote.
In another related report, some discordant tunes are once again coming to the fore in the spell of seeming harmony within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), ahead of a long four-month campaign stretch for the 2023 general elections, which officially kicks off on Wednesday, September 28.