* "So who was,? You?”- Atiku shoots back.
PDP Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar on Tuesday, criticized a former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili for being petty in her effort to weaken his public standing.
In a tweet on Monday, Atiku claimed that he was head of the economic management team that designed a private sector revival strategy and opened up the economy for private sector investments in several sectors.
He wrote, “As head of the economic management team while I was Vice President, I was instrumental in designing a private sector revival strategy and advocated for the opening of the economy for private sector investments in several sectors. And we made tremendous progress.”
Reacting to the tweet, Ezekwesili accused Atiku of telling an “absurd lie”, insisting that the former vice president never headed the Economic Management Team.
She wrote, “Dear former Vice President Atiku, please ask the handlers of your Twitter account to stop misleading the public. You were never the Head of the Economic Management Team. This absurd lie does you no good at all. Please ask your team to stop it. Happy New Year. I wish you well.”
Image: The PUNCH.
She further stated that she was also a member of the team then, and explained how the group worked at that time.
“There is a difference between the Economic Management Team set up for the first time in 2003 by President Obasanjo and the National Economic Council established by the 1999 Constitution as amended; Section 153(1) and Paragraphs 18 & 19 of Part I of the Third Schedule.
“The Presidential Economic Management Team (we called it “The Economic Team” for brevity) was a Technical Team of 12 persons from a range of expertise whom President Obasanjo constituted to drive Nigeria’s Economic Reform Agenda during his 2nd Term in office 2003-2007.”
“There is no sincere basis for confusing the work of the Presidential Economic Management Team that I described in the previous tweets with the National Economic Council, provided for in the Constitution and chaired by a Vice President. The functions are not the same at all. None,” Ezekwesili maintained.
However, Atiku has shot back at Ezekwesili, insisting that as the Vice President, he was indeed the head of the Economic Management team.
A response tweet by Atiku's spokesman, Paul Ibe reads: “Dear @obyezeks, I know it’s political season and people resort to all sorts of antics in support of their preferred candidates. But some things should be considered too low.
“In trying – and failing – to weaken his standing in public, let us not resort to this sort of jaded ‘aproko’ pettiness.
“If Atiku wasn’t head of the Economic Management Team as VP, so who was? You?”
Politics and Opinion.
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