FOLLOWING ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) election server, presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party in the 2019 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Sunday said he has no plan to lead a street protest.
In a statement issued by Atiku’s Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, Atiku did not make such utterance describing the claim as false meant to mar the pro-democratic record of the former Vice President.
“I wish to emphatically state that such a statement did not emanate from Atiku Abubakar or his privies. It is the work of mischief makers who want to mar his spotless pro-democratic record and lay the groundwork for their threatened actions against him on false charges of being a threat to national security.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Atiku Abubakar believes in the Rule of Law and in the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In his almost four decades in politics, he has never taken action or spoken words against democracy and will not start now,” the statement reads.
Atiku had earlier rejected the 2019 presidential election result, saying it was not credible.
The European Union in its final election report released on Saturday also described the election as such marred with irregularities, transparency issues.
The foreign election observers also blamed the electoral umpire for operational deficiency.
Meanwhile, since the call for the INEC election serves, there have been intense controversies and denial by the INEC on the server.
The ICIR, however, affirmed through its fact check that the server actually exists because it was proposed in the budget, and fund was approved and released.
Some of the commission’s top officials have also been reported to acknowledge the existence of the election server.
“Atiku and his team have confidence in God and thus call on those bent on mischief to have the fear of God and retrace their steps. Democracy has come to stay in Nigeria. The culture of fear being created now cannot rein in our democracy. Nigeria and Nigerians have a consistent history of outlasting tyranny and will continue to do so by the grace of God,” the statement concludes.
Olugbenga heads the Investigations Desk at The ICIR. Do you have a scoop? Shoot him an email at oadanikin@icirnigeria.org. Twitter Handle: @OluAdanikin