…Denounces a purported Buhari Campaign Group
Spokesman of the Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress, PCC, Festus Keyamo (SAN) has challenged the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, to proceed with his suit in court over the results of the February 23rd presidential and parliamentary elections which saw the APC candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari thrashing Atiku to emerge winner. Keyamo, in a statement on Tuesday, said the APC is fully ready and anxiously waiting to meet Atiku in court.
Mr. Keyamo also denounced a purported campaign group feigning as that of the APC which was reported to have written a letter to international bodies to prevail on Alhaji Atiku Abubakar not to proceed to court to challenge the result of the 2019 Presidential Election.
Keyamo said the group does not represent the campaign organization of President Buhari and neither does it speak for Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation.
Recall that the PDP and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have filed a motion to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to surrender all the materials that were used for the February 23 presidential election, for inspection.
Atiku, in the motion ex-parte dated March 4, Atiku and the PDP, applied for leave of the tribunal to allow them to inspect the Voters Register, the Smart Card Reader Machines, Ballot Papers and other vital documents that were used in the conduct of the presidential election.
They equally prayed the tribunal to compel the electoral body to allow their agents to scan and make photocopies of vital documents used in the conduct of the election, for the purpose of establishing alleged irregularities.
The Applicants, through their lawyer, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, told the tribunal that the reliefs sought against INEC was for the purpose of filing and maintaining an election petition they intend to lodge against the outcome of the 2019 Presidential Election.
But in his reaction, Keyamo said, although the APC believes that Atiku has a constitutional right to seek redress in court which the APC cannot in any way seek to curtail, that the ruling progressives party is however “very anxious to meet Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in court in order to show the world in a conclusive manner the free and fair nature of the comprehensive defeat of Atiku at the polls.”
The statement reads thus:
“Our attention has been drawn to some news item and posts on social media reporting that we wrote a letter to some international bodies to prevail on Alhaji Atiku Abubakar not to proceed to court to challenge the result of the 2019 Presidential Election.
“Our investigation reveals that a letter to that effect was purportedly written by a certain ‘Buhari Campaign Organisation’. This is the second time we will be informing the public that the said ‘Buhari Campaign Organisation’ does not act at the behest of the APC Presidential Campaign Council nor does it represent the Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation in any way. As a result, whatever it has released does not represent the position of the APC Presidential Campaign Council or President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Our official position is that we believe that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has a constitutional right to seek redress in court and we do not seek in any way to curtail that right.
“In addition, we are very anxious to meet Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in court in order to show the world in a conclusive manner the free and fair nature of the comprehensive defeat of Atiku at the polls.
“An election is not termed ‘rigged’ only by the mere claim of it by the loser. That is what Atiku and the PDP want to ram down our throats. Unfortunately for them, international, continental and sub-regional observers (who can be seen as neutral by all standards) all declared the election to be free, fair and credible. No ego-massaging narrative can change that.
“We therefore totally disassociate ourselves from the letter purportedly written by one of, perhaps, many support groups of President Muhammadu Buhari. They may have a right to their opinion, but it does not represent our official position.”
