Atiku To IRI, NDI: Focus On The Evidence, Not Buhari’s Deceitful Words

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BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has urged the International Republican Institute (IRI), and National Democratic Institute (NDI), not to be hoodwinked by what he described as the deceptive words of President Muhammadu Buhari to give a level playing field to his opponent in the 2019 elections.

Atiku, who stated this while reacting to a personal statement by President Buhari wherein he claimed that he would give his opponents in the 2019 elections the level playing ground which the PDP denied him, said the IRI and NDI should focus on the evidence which cannot lie.

Speaking to a delegation from the International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute, President Muhammadu Buhari said, “I am prepared to give the opposition the opportunities I was not given in the past.’’

But Atiku, in statement by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe noted that President Buhari ran for the office of the President of Nigeria in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015 under the PDP, stressing that not once during those intervening years was he arrested, molested or persecuted in any way, shape or form.

Atiku noted that as a matter of fact, immediately after Buhari’s experience with Boko Haram terrorists in Kaduna on July 24, 2014, the then PDP administration bought him a $300,000 dollar armoured and bombproof SUV for his protection, saying that Mr. Buhari received the vehicle which helped save his life.

The PDP Presidential candidate further said; “Never were Muhammadu Buhari or his relative’s accounts frozen by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission or any other government agencies under the PDP and never were his running mates, children, friends and family targeted.

“Muhammadu Buhari participated in several protests and marches, including the Occupy Nigeria movement and the 2014 APC march in Abuja and was not arrested or persecuted by the PDP.

“Furthermore, the PDP ensured that the Independent National Electoral Commission was independent and appointed disinterested individuals to its board including Prof. Attahiru Jega, who then President Jonathan had never met before his appointment.

“The PDP also ensured that vital government agencies like the National Bureau of Statistics were not politicised, whether or not their reports favoured the government.

“However, since coming to office, President Muhammadu has refused to reciprocate the good treatment meted out to him by the PDP and has instead persecuted, harassed and attempted to intimidate his likely opponents, even before they became candidates.

“Their businesses have been affected with the government either pulling out of or attempting to pull out of commercial contractual agreements freely entered into between government agencies and businesses owned or partly owned by perceived presidential opponents.

“Also, in a bid to intimidate the Presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar’s plane was invaded by a crack combined military team on November 11, 2018. That was unprecedented in Nigeria’s history and never occurred even under military rule.

“Opposition presidential candidates who participated in peaceful marches have been arrested and are currently facing trial. Others were set up by government agencies including the Code of Conduct Tribunal and were tried until the government’s case collapsed at the Supreme Court.

“The account of the Vice Presidential candidate of the PDP was frozen even as opposition Presidential candidates were falsely accused of involvement in armed robbery and when the government’s case was falling apart, their main suspect suspiciously and suddenly died in police custody.

“An opposition candidate on the verge of winning an election was strangely charged for examinations malpractices and his win was overturned.

“Sadly, on Monday the 17th of December 2018, in a Freudian slip during a live TV interview, Garba Shehu, the President’s spokesman, revealed that President Buhari had ordered the National Bureau of Statistics to fudge the latest unemployment numbers seeing as they do not favour the government so close to an election.

“This is even as the President has refused to sign the amended Electoral Act knowing that the Act would prevent the government from rigging the elections.

“But the most telling action by the President was his attempt to foist his own biological niece as the Chairman of INEC but for the uproar of the opposition backed by the international community,” he recounted.

Atiku therefore declared that these and other actions completely contradict President Buhari’s assurances thus urged the International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute not to be hoodwinked by the President’s deceptive words, but to focus on the evidence.

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