The office of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the last general elections, has strongly denied ever issuing any statement congratulating President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal which, Wednesday, validated the election of Tinubu as President.
Reacting to a statement purportedly issued by Atiku, congratulating Tinubu on the judgement of the tribunal, the Media Adviser to the former Vice President, Mr. Paul Ibe, described it as fake news deliberately “orchestrated by those desperately looking for validation for the usurpation of the mandate of Nigerians.”
According to Ibe, Atiku couldn’t have validated electoral banditry because doing so would have amounted to a rape on the conscience of Nigerians who, he said, had struggled for years to entrench electoral integrity.
Ibe noted that “if their conscience is clear and they are convinced that their victory is valid, they don’t have to blackmail their political opponents into congratulating them through fake news.”
“Why should a man be desperate for validation? Does truth require validation? Why should you issue a congratulatory statement and attribute it to Atiku if your conscience is not troubled by the electoral heist you have perpetrated,” he queried.
Contrary to the fake news being circulated by people he described as “Tinubu propagandists”, Ibe averred that Atiku had already instructed his lawyers to proceed to the Supreme Court to challenge the judgement.
To confirm that the purported message was “fake and pedestrian”, the media aide noted that it was addressed to the “President-elect.” And, “Though we know it is a pyrrhic victory, is it not ridiculous to still address Bola Tinubu as “President-elect” five months after swearing-in?”
According to Ibe, “this struggle is not about Atiku; it’s about Nigeria and the future of our democracy. By allowing election riggers to get away with their misdeeds, our democracy will be in greater jeopardy. Consent is essential to democratic mandate; ruling people against their will undermines everything democracy stands for.”
He also explained that the PDP presidential candidate is not going into retirement from politics or electoral contest, rather, he would continue to be part of the struggle to deepen democracy in the country.
“The Waziri has nothing personal against President Tinubu,’ Ibe stressed. “He owes him no ill will. Let me, however, make it very clear that this struggle is about principle and justice. He is not in this struggle because he hates Tinubu. He is in it to ensure that people who rigged elections are not allowed to get away with it. Injustice and rigging promote bitterness and division. No leader should be proud to lead angry and aggrieved citizens.”
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