The Presidency, on Monday, advised former Vice-President and Peoples Democratic Party’s Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to end what it called “his unprofitable bid” and steer clear of “any venture that will further pollute the political atmosphere and national harmony.”
The reaction followed Atiku’s remarks at a press conference in Abuja where he picked holes in the Supreme Court’s verdict of October 26, which upheld President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s electoral victory.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement, said he went into the February 2023 elections “with a fragmented and tattered umbrella.”
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“We want to advise Atiku that after over three decades of elusive bid for the Presidency of Nigeria, he must now end his unprofitable bid and go away from any venture that will further pollute the political atmosphere and national harmony,” he advised.
In the statement titled ‘Time for Atiku Abubakar to finally go away and end his ambition to be President’, Onanuga said “Atiku lost because he went into a major election with a fragmented and tattered umbrella that could not hold together.
“There was no way Atiku and PDP could have won the election with the party platform under which he contested broken into four parts.”
He also expressed his dismay at his reaction to the court verdict, saying “We were wrong to expect that Atiku at 77 would play the statesman and sportsman and accept, with equanimity, the verdict of the highest court and the people of Nigeria.”
The presidential spokesman pointed out his criticism against national institutions, especially after the Supreme Court verdict, stating that he “unashamedly constituted himself into a demagogue and anarchist.”
The presidency wondered how the Wazirin Adamawa could have envisaged any possible pathway to victory with Mr. Peter Obi’s Labour Party, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s NNPP and PDP G-5 Governors who took away possible PDP votes, “while the APC went into the election as a strong, viable and unified entity.”
He said the All Progressives Congress (APC) with President Tinubu as its candidate “went into the election as a strong, viable and unified entity.”
He also cited Atiku’s controversial ties to Nigeria’s past political challenges, quoting, “For instance, Atiku claimed he worked along with others to end military rule in Nigeria when he was known to be in bed with the same junta.”
The statement also accentuated allegations of corruption against Atiku, mentioning that “The US Congress lists Atiku’s money laundering as one of the very rare cases of corruption at the highest level of governance in the world.”
