- denies spending $30,000 to stop Buhari’s inauguration
- Don’t overstep freedom of speech, AGF warns PDP
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general elections has dissociated himself from posters being circulated around Abuja, saying: “The campaign season is over.”
Some of the posters at the Central District of Abuja had the inscriptions: ‘Atiku, the real and the best.’
A statement by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, said: “The tainted electoral victory by the incumbent is being challenged in court. We refuse to be distracted, which is exactly the objective of our opponents but remain focused on diligently pursuing our election petition with a view to retrieving the stolen mandate.
“Our attention has been drawn to posters of His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 election being circulated in Abuja. We disassociate the former vice president of Nigeria from the said posters in circulation.”
Also on Wednesday, Ibe dismissed as “total fabrication” an allegation that Atiku spent $30,000 to hire a lobby group to persuade the US Congress to stop the inauguration of President Buhari.
Reacting to the “shameless lies”, Ibe said the latest dirty propaganda against the former vice president “didn’t come as a surprise to us because lying has so far become their only bragging rights of competence.”
He said: “Lying has become a culture to the APC administration and therefore we are not surprised by their latest diversionary allegations. Since Atiku resisted pressure not to go to court, the APC has been behaving like a cat on hot bricks because the outcome of the 2019 elections has exposed and shattered the facade of their dubious integrity.”
He said, “the APC are behaving nervously like a thief living under the fear of being exposed and shamed” and “are now using fake news against Atiku instead of focusing on defending themselves in the court. For a party that has broken the worst record in election rigging, the APC doesn’t have any iota of integrity to be taken seriously by anybody.
“Atiku’s court case has become their biggest burden because it exposes their integrity as a sham. And instead of defending their stolen mandate in court, they are now using fake news to divert public attention from the historic electoral heist they have committed against Nigerians.”
This came as Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami accused the PDP of going overboard in the exercise of its freedom of expression.
He stated this while fielding questions on claims by the PDP that he was allegedly involved in a plot to cause a constitutional crisis by compelling the Supreme Court to reverse its judgment on the Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries.
Speaking to State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Malami said: “Regarding what was levelled against me by PDP, I think it remains an accusation. It has to remain so until proven through a judicial process. But for me, I think it is freedom of speech that has been taken too far.”
The PDP had alleged that the AGF was at the frontline of an APC plot to mount pressure on Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria Tanko Mohammed to reverse the February 12, 2019 final judgment of the Supreme Court. The court had upheld the judgment of the trial court that excluded the APC from participating in the National Assembly, governorship and state Assembly elections in Rivers State, having nullified the party’s flawed primaries in the state.
The PDP also said it had information on how Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi was allegedly going around in the state, giving assurances that he has the ears of the Supreme Court and that the court would reverse its judgment and make way for fresh elections wherein the APC would be allowed to participate.
The Guardian
