Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to focus on redeeming his “disastrous years of misgovernance” rather than becoming the chief marketing officer of the recent “electoral heist.”
Atiku also warned the president and members of his administration not to bully the Presidential Electoral Petition Tribunal, which is set to begin hearing petitions regarding the outcome of the last general election.
Recall that Buhari and Lai Mohammed, the minister of information and culture, both stated that the opposition PDP and Labour Party lost the 2023 election because they were overconfident.
In a statement issued yesterday, Atiku said, “We have read with disgust the shameful efforts by the Muhammadu Buhari administration in playing the role of chief marketing officer of the electoral heist deliberately orchestrated to keep the ruling All Progressives Congress in power against the wishes of Nigerians.”Beginning with President Muhammadu Buhari’s infamous remark while hosting some of his party’s governors, in which he claimed “the opposition lost the election due to overconfidence and complacency,” we have seen a pattern in which senior government officials are subtly bullying the judiciary into submission.
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“While it is widely acknowledged that Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, has a reputation for being a busybody, it is absurd that the Minister will take a cue from his boss to weigh in on a matter that is already before the courts.”
According to Atiku, the Buhari-led APC government has already broken the record for being the most irresponsible government in Nigeria due to broken promises.
“Whereas President Buhari and his INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, promised Nigerians and the entire world a credible, free, and fair 2023 general election in which technology would be used to track and protect every single ballot, we have seen how woefully this administration has failed to deliver on its promises.”
“We will not elaborate on the depravity that accompanied the conduct of the 2023 general election because the matter is still before the judiciary.”
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“However, it is critical to caution the APC and, in particular, senior officials of the current administration against making comments that could be interpreted as subtle acts of bullying against the judicial processes that are currently putting the legality of the last election on trial.”
“If Buhari administration officials must explain anything in their remaining days, let it be about telling Nigerians how they failed on their promises, including naira redesign; job destruction rather than job creation; the pervasive state of insecurity and divisions along ethnoreligious and political lines; galloping inflation and high cost of living; removing corruption around fuel subsidy issues, and their latest promise of conducting a national election.”
“They must also explain to Nigerians why the country they are leaving behind before returning to the Niger Republic is the world’s poorest,” he said.
