APC,
Presidency in fresh plot to set up Atiku —PDP insists party needs no lobby
group to reclaim presidential mandate
By
Dirisu Yakubu & Omeiza Ajayi ABUJA—National Working Committee, NWC, of the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday, said no amount of fabrications,
attempt at set-up, veiled and open threats by the All Progressives Congress,
APC-led Federal Government would stop its Presidential candidate in the 2019
election, Atiku Abubakar from reclaiming his mandate at the tribunal.
The
party rejected in its entirety, “the declaration by the Presidency that Atiku
Abubakar is “lucky to be walking free,” adding that such a statement was
inciting and “brings to the fore the unwholesome intention of the APC-led
administration against Atiku Abubakar for seeking to retrieve his stolen
mandate at the court.” This came as the Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, said it had filed its response to Atiku’s petition and
others. Yesterday was the deadline for the INEC and APC to file their
responses. It was not clear, at press time, if the APC had complied as National
Publicity Secretary of the party, Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu did not pick his
calls. “For other petitions like those of the HDP, PDM and others, we filed our
responses last week. As for the Atiki/PDP petition, we filed our response
yesterday (Wednesday),” said Mr. Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and
Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of the Commission.
Meanwhile, PDP in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, said it was
aware “that the series of orchestrations against Atiku Abubakar and the PDP by
agents of the Federal Government, officials of the Presidency and the Buhari
Media Organisation, BMO, expose a well-coordinated plot, which includes a
resort to unfounded claims of links with a foreign lobby group, to attempt to
frame Atiku Abubakar, cause tension and ultimately derail the recovery of the
stolen mandate at the Presidential election tribunal. “Such orchestrations are
also targeted at instilling fear, cause apprehension in the citizenry and
create opening to further suppress genuine public opinion and the course of
justice in the quest by Atiku Abubakar and the PDP to restore the will of the
people. “Part of the motive is to use lies, fabrications, threats and
sponsoring of Atiku campaign posters to portray Atiku Abubakar and the PDP as
being desperate and ready to subvert the rules in the pursuit of our mandate;
and by so doing discredit our candidate in the eyes of the judiciary and the
public in general. “This explains why agents of the APC-led government
fabricated and pushed into the public space, bogus and laughable claims that
Atiku Abubakar paid $30,000 to a US lobby group to assist in the quest to
reclaim our mandate only for the Federal Government and the Presidency to turn
around to feast on the fabrications with threats against Atiku Abubakar.
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