Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general elections has dissociated himself from posters being circulated around the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja, saying the campaign season is over. The campaign posters titled “The Pukka” that festooned some major streets of Abuja, also appeared on some streets in Yola, capital of Adamawa, Atiku’s home state. Pukka, a Hindi word, means “authentic, genuine, sure, solid and excellent.”
Some of the posters at the Central District of Abuja boldly carry Atiku’s portrait and the message, “HE Atiku Abubakar GCON, The Real and The Right” with a web address www.deservation.org, which Huhuonline.com found belongs to a group of the same name based in Yola. Atiku however disowned the posters in a statement by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, on Wednesday. “Our attention has been drawn to posters of Abubakar, Presidential candidate of PDP in the 2019 election being circulated in Abuja. We dissociate the former Vice President of Nigeria from the said posters in circulation. The campaign season is over. The tainted electoral victory by the incumbent is being challenged in court. We refuse to be distracted, which is exactly the objective of our opponents, but to remain focused on diligently pursuing our election petition with a view to retrieving the stolen mandate.”
A search on the web address (www.deservation.org) shows Atiku Deservation Movement (Project 774 for Atiku 2019) with RC 1167591 with the contact Magaji/Sanda Ward Yola, South Adamawa State as well as phone number and a mail address. The boldness of the campaign and the meaning it connotes has triggered questions whether the group behind it has not breached the electoral law. According to Section 99 (1) of the 1999 Electoral Act, as amended, the campaign for presidential election began on November 19, 2018 and officially ended 24 hours to the election initially scheduled for February 16, 2019, but postponed to February 23.
Dr. Sani Adamu, the director-general of the Atiku Deservation Group, an Atiku Abubakar campaign group, claimed the group was not waging a political campaign or breaching the campaign rules of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). He claimed Atiku is Nigeria’s authentic president, saying the group was established to galvanize support for credible candidates that can make Nigeria great. “We support only candidates and not political parties,” he said.
Meanwhile, Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman also dismissed any suggestions that the posters could not be considered as campaign materials. Oyekanmi said if a poster has no party logo or name, INEC does not consider it to be campaign materials. “The election is over and I wonder if anybody will be campaigning for an election that had been concluded,” Oyekanmi said.
Also yesterday, Ibe dismissed as “total fabrication” an allegation that Atiku spent $30,000 to hire a lobby group to persuade the US Congress to stop the inauguration of President Buhari. Reacting to the “shameless lies” Ibe said the latest dirty propaganda against the former vice president “didn’t come as a surprise to us because lying has so far become their only bragging rights of competence.”
“Lying has become a culture to the APC administration and therefore we are not surprised by their latest diversionary allegations. Since Atiku resisted pressure not to go to court, the APC has been behaving like a cat on hot bricks because the outcome of the 2019 elections has exposed and shattered the facade of their dubious integrity. Atiku’s court case has become their biggest burden because it exposes their integrity as a sham. And instead of defending their stolen mandate in court, they are now using fake news to divert public attention from the historic electoral heist they have committed against Nigerians.”
This came as Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami accused the PDP of going overboard in exercising freedom of expression. Malami was responding to allegations by the PDP that he was involved in a plot to compel the Supreme Court to reverse its February 12, 2019 judgment on the Rivers All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries. The court had upheld the verdict of the trial court that excluded the APC from the National Assembly, governorship and state Assembly elections in Rivers State, having nullified the party’s flawed primaries in the state. The PDP also said it had information that Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi was allegedly going around in the state, giving assurances that he has the ears of the Supreme Court and that the court would reverse its judgment and make way for fresh elections wherein the APC would be allowed to participate.
Speaking to State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Malami said: “Regarding what was levelled against me by PDP, I think it remains an accusation. It has to remain so until proven through a judicial process. But for me, I think it is freedom of speech that has been taken too far.”
