The Presidency has told former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to end his political ambitions.
A statement on Monday signed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, advised Atiku to stay away from any venture that would further pollute the country’s political atmosphere and national harmony.
The statement is a reaction to Atiku’s press conference on Monday where he criticized the Supreme Court’s affirmation of President Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 elections.
The former vice president did not forgive the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The statement noted that contrary to Atiku’s claim of morality and higher ideals, his entire life is the antithesis of any higher ideal.
Read the full statement below:
IT’S TIME FOR ATIKU ABUBAKAR TO FINALLY GO AND FINISH HIS AMBITION TO BE PRESIDENT
Former Vice President and Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Monday broke down at a press conference in Abuja, where he finally found his voice after more than 96 hours to respond to his defeat before the Court Supreme Court in a historic ruling. on his manifestly incompetent election petition appeal. We were wrong to expect Atiku, at 77, to act as a statesman and sportsman and accept, with equanimity, the verdict of the highest court and the people of Nigeria.
Instead, he blatantly became a demagogue and anarchist for the way he tried to tear down and delegitimize all institutions of the State, all in a futile attempt to achieve what he could not obtain through the ballot box.
In his press conference, in which he endeavored, in vain, to once again manipulate public opinion and blame the judiciary for his self-inflicted defeat in the February 25 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku launched a tirade against the Electoral Commission Independent National Council (INEC) and the judiciary. , particularly our high court, for not bending the law and the constitution to suit their whims and whims.
Atiku put a lot of effort into perfecting his misinformation act by trying to claim false morality and higher ideals when in reality his entire life is the antithesis of any higher ideal.
For example, Atiku claimed that he worked alongside others to end military rule in Nigeria when he was known to be in bed with the same junta that held democracy hostage and imprisoned his mentor, Major General Shehu Musa Yar. ‘Adua (rtd), until death. She distanced herself from him while he was detained to keep his gubernatorial ambition alive on the platform of one of those ignominious Abacha political parties.
Atiku’s brand of politics is such that once an electoral process or an election does not go his way or pave the way for his victory, democracy becomes dysfunctional and must therefore be in danger. For him, democracy should follow the highway or the highway.
The PDP candidate was uncharitable and bellicose in his choice of words and his vision on Nigeria. We can only imagine the level of frustration that could lead a former vice president of Nigeria to take such a pessimistic view of a country where he once held the second-highest position. The PDP candidate said Nigeria is doomed only because he failed to achieve his personal ambition.
We want to say this to Alhaji Atiku: Nigeria is not doomed. The only thing that is doomed to failure is Atiku’s excessive ambition to be president. Nigeria is moving forward and set to achieve its manifest destiny as one of the most respected and successful nations in the world under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Contrary to Atiku’s gloomy presentation of our democracy, we are excited to tell the world that our democracy is thriving and flourishing. It is the reason why, for the first time since 1999, the character of our National Assembly and its outlook reflect the diversity and plurality of voters’ options and preferences as a rainbow coalition of different parties, unlike the practice of the past in which only two parties dominated the national parliament.
In today’s Nigeria, votes matter. No deliberate distortion of the facts about our recent election by Alhaji Atiku and his associate, Peter Obi, can vitiate the continuous improvement of our electoral process that local and international observers have praised. As the Supreme Court stated, IReV was not intended as an online collection center. It was simply a public center for displaying results.
The PDP and Atiku, including Peter Obi’s faction of the Labor Party, cannot continue to insist on their own reality against common sense, logic and the law.
Atiku and his mercenary army knew why they lost the election. The PDP candidate lost because Nigerians preferred Bola Ahmed Tinubu and voted for him to be president. Tinubu, along with his APC, won because he offered a better vision for the future of our country. The All Progressives Congress as a united and formidable party that ran a well-coordinated campaign with its grassroots intact.
Atiku lost because he went into an important election with a fragmented and tattered umbrella that could not hold together. There was no way Atiku and the PDP could have won the election with the party platform under which he contested divided into four parts. If Atiku did not harbor a delusion of grandeur, we wonder how he could have imagined any possible path to victory with Peter Obi’s Labor Party, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s NNPP and the PDP G-5 Governors taking away potential votes to the PDP, while The APC went to the elections as a strong, viable and unified entity.
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar says he loves Nigeria and embraces “integrity” very much. We consider such a claim to be pure hypocrisy as Atiku remains one of the worst examples of kleptocracy in Africa. The US Congress lists Atiku’s money laundering as one of the very rare cases of corruption at the highest level of government in the world.
His greed sent Congressman William Jefferson to jail after the FBI uncovered a bribery scandal in which Atiku was involved from head to toe and for which he was demoted by the US agency.
Now that we come to the proper question of governance after Atiku’s unwarranted distraction, we have gleaned some clear lessons for the future. One is that our institutions must be strengthened with diligent and strong wings, enough to resist and identify from afar the agitators who pose as statesmen.
Second, our institutions must also ensure that corrupt, desperate and selfish serial losers do not have a place in our democracy. Because if they don’t win the battle, they could burn the nation down.
We wish to warn Atiku that after more than three decades of elusive bid for the Nigerian presidency, he must now end his unprofitable bid and abandon any venture that would further pollute the political atmosphere and national harmony.
Bayo Onanuga Special Advisor to the President on Information and StrategyOctober 30, 2023
