*Abubakar, Kukah, Sultan allegedly contacted
*No going back, says Atiku
*Suit of no effect-Buhari loyalists
By Samuel Alonge
There are strong indications that Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is now under intense pressure to withdraw his suit at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, where he is challenging the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress.
The sharpedgenews correspondent reliably gathered at the weekend that some loyalists of the President who are worried at a possible post-election backlash, which may arise from the legal action, have reached out to former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd) and the Arewa Consultative Forum, to dissuade Atiku from going ahead with the election petition.
A top source within the PDP, who craved anonymity, told our correspondent that, “Yes, loyalists to the President have reached out to General Abubakar so he can talk to Atiku; they even went to Reverend Mathew Hassan Kukah of the Catholic Church to, in concert with Abubakar, visit Atiku at home and advise him to withdraw his suit.
“Not only that; these agents have gone to meet leaders of the ACF to intervene. But when they got to the Sultan of Sokoto, he politely turned them down, saying he was not interested.”
However, the publicity secretary of the South-west zone of the PDP, Mr. Ayo Fadaka, corroborated this claim, while chatting with our correspondent.
He said, “We got feelers that the ruling party, out of desperation, is now trying to blackmail Atiku by reaching out to respected opinion leaders and close allies of the former vice president with a view to making him withdraw his petition before the tribunal and embrace a political solution.
“They are doing this knowing well that that there had never been a case that Atiku instituted and did not win; and they are scared of the fact that our presidential candidate has overwhelming evidence to recover his stolen mandate through legal means and that’s why they have been running from pillar to post.
“They reached out to people whom Atiku has great regards for, but whose names I will not mention. But mark it, Atiku is resolute to claim back his mandate and the party is fully behind him.”
‘NO GOING BACK’
In his reaction, spokesman to the former Vice President, Mr. Paul Ibe, told our correspondent that no level of pressure or persuasion could make Atiku back down from seeking justice at the election petition tribunal.
“Atiku is committed to due process, democracy and the rule of law. I wonder why anybody would want him to withdraw (his case) after they had encouraged him to go to court.
“What they have is a stolen mandate and it will not stand. And under this circumstance, what you do is to hold your tongue and count your teeth.” Ibe said
Reacting too, the Afenifere Renewal Group, a South-West socio-cultural group backing the Atiku candidature, along with the Ohanaeze Ndigbo from the South-East, said no Buhari lobbyist dare approach it or the Ohanaeze.
Speaking with our correspondent, Afenifere’s publicity secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said, “Afenifere is a principled group that believes that a party challenging marred elections in court is fulfilling a constitutional right.
“Both Afenifere and Ohanaeze have backed Atiku to challenge Buhari in court and we stand by our position. We are not a mortician who encourages people to go into prostitution and later ask them to come for HIV test.”
IT’S OF NO EFFECT, BUHARI’S LOYALISTS REPLY
But sneering at the PDP, the APC’s Buhari Support Volunteers Group for the last election said the President had no need to engage any lobbyist to persuade Atiku from going ahead with his election petition suit.
The South-West Coordinator for the group, Mr. Dipo Okeyomi, said that “Atiku has been retired from politics finally, as he stands no chance of winning in the court.”
Okeyomi added, “Nigerians voted for Buhari and so, why should Buhari bother to go beg Atiku? In fact, I’m not advising him (Atiku) to withdraw the case, he should go ahead.”
WE DID OUR HOMEWORK-PDP
But expressing the PDP’s conviction that Atiku would come out triumphant, in a recent statement issued to rejoice over the victory of the Osun PDP governorship candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, at the state’s election petition tribunal, Fadaka said Atiku would shock his critics.
In the statement issued, he stated, “We want to assure Nigerians that the illegal manipulation of the presidential election is being challenged diligently by our candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
“The party has done its homework in this respect, having gathered evidences of malpractices across the nation; therefore, we declare that we are confident of getting a fair hearing of our petition before the Presidential Election Tribunal.
“The judiciary will continue to remain the last bastion of our democracy and we trust it to take required actions that will halt impunity, political dishonesty and outright thievery of electoral desires of Nigerians as expressed in the last presidential elections.”
He congratulated the judiciary “for having expressed loudly, that the impunity of the ruling party, the APC, which President Buhari described as ‘remote control’ in our elections, is being checkmated and this confirms that our generation owes our children and indeed future generations the responsibility to begin to take actions that will safeguard the future of our nation.”
Commending the Osun verdict, the PDP urged the judiciary not to be deterred in its quest to assert its independence and dispense justice without fear or favour.
“Though we note that the Judiciary is currently under assault through the numerous actions of the Buhari administration, the last of which is the illegal suspension of the Chief Justice of the Federation, Walter Onnoghen over what is turning out to be phantom charges, propelled by falsehood, we encourage the eminent men on our benches to continue to uphold their oaths of office and do what is proper in the interest of our dear nation,” the party enjoined.
He lampooned a statement credited to President Buhari in an address to the Council of Obas recently, when he declared that the Osun State gubernatorial election was remote controlled for his party to win.
“That comment alone confirms our assertion that INEC under its current leadership is compromised and not fit to remain in office,” the party said.
Besides, the PDP averred that INEC fell short of the expectation of Nigerians in the way it conducted the last general elections, alleging that it was compromised by the Presidency.
“INEC continues to betray partisanship in the discharge of its sacrosanct responsibilities, thereby submitting itself to be a mere appendage of the Presidency, which continues to arm-twist and guide it to certain conclusions.
“The current rounds of elections in our nation today leave so much to be decided, as INEC has invoked its guidelines curiously in states and constituencies where APC seems to be failing and use same to assist them against our party in other places where we are thriving.
“This is partisan and a double standard, which is least expected from the Commission,” Fadaka protested.