Inside Nigeria
Atiku: Me withdraw Case Against Tinubu? Never! I’ll Never Accept an Illegitimate Outcome of a Flawed Process
...I shall continue to challenge the legality of the election
Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the February 25, 2023 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has restated his resolve to fight, in court, the election of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the successor of President Muhammadu Buhari, come May 29, 2023.
Abubakar restated his determination to challenge Tinubu’s electoral victory while debunking a viral report that he may have made up his mind to withdraw the case from the Tribunal, accepting Tinubu’s election.
The former Vice President said the press release attributed to him was fake and never emanated from him or his office.
He made the clarification via a press release he issued on Saturday, March 25, 2023.
“The so-called press release did not emanate from me or my office,” Atiku declared, “and it should be treated with repudiation, untrue, and deliberately contrived by those who illegally appropriated the mandate of the Nigerian people.
“For the avoidance of any doubt, I wish to state categorically that my lawyers still have my unflinching mandate to challenge the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.”
Below is the full text of the press release:
PRESS RELEASE
I’ll never validate an illegitimate outcome of a flawed process
I have been notified of a fake press release attributed to me and purportedly giving legitimacy to the widely rigged presidential election of February 25.
The so-called press release did not emanate from me or my office, and it should be treated with repudiation, untrue, and deliberately contrived by those who illegally appropriated the mandate of the Nigerian people.
For the avoidance of any doubt, I wish to state categorically that my lawyers still have my unflinching mandate to challenge the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.
I join other lovers of democracy in Nigeria and friends of our great country in the outright rejection of the predetermined outcome of the February 25 election.
I shall continue to challenge the legality of that election, alongside my party, the Peoples Democratic Party.
The decision to challenge the sham election of February 25, the worst election in our democratic history, is not predicated on my personal interest but for the interest of Nigeria and its people. It is aimed at deepening democracy and ensuring that we do not confer legitimacy to an outcome of illegitimacy.
My commitment to the democratic struggle in Nigeria is beyond an election season.
Signed:
Atiku Abubakar
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party
and former Vice President of Nigeria, 1999-2007
25th March, 2023
