The presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, were at loggerheads, over the conduct of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as well as the protest the leadership of the opposition party launched against the results of the presidential election on February 25.
Atiku, the National Chairman of the PDP, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, and other party officials protested outside INEC’s Abuja headquarters, where they called the election a hoax and said INEC’s integrity was being put to the test since the commission reportedly broke its pledges to deploy the BVAS and to transmit voting results electronically from polling places to its result viewing portal in real-time.
Atiku disagreed with Tinubu about the election’s process and outcome, claiming the PDP candidate had no chance of winning and should cease causing traffic snarls in Abuja by protesting. The former vice president was challenged by Tinubu to present his complaints in court rather than at INEC’s headquarters.
In the letter, which was signed by Ayu and the PDP National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu,which was sent to INEC chairman, and stated that the party’s decision to start a peaceful march, supported by the protest letter, was made after many meetings to evaluate the polls.
Reacting to the protest yesterday, Tinubu asked Atiku to respect his grand old age and stop following court jesters like Dino Melaye to dance ‘skelewu’ and cause traffic snarls within the nation’s capital, Abuja. ‘Skelewu’ is a dance form established by the musician, David Adeleke (Davido) in his song of the same title.
Describing the action as a new low and a theatre of the absurd, Tinubu said it is strange that a former vice president of the country could be so idle as to disturb the public peace.
Director, Media and Publicity, at the APC Presidential Campaign Council PCC, Mr Bayo Onanuga in a statement said when Atiku told the world last week that he would seek redress in court over the outcome of the presidential election, little did the PCC know that he did not plan to be guided by his own promise.
“Going by his political antecedents, it was rather not surprising that Atiku, days later, led a band of protesters, nay jesters in Abuja, to the Headquarters of INEC. What was on display today by Alhaji Atiku and his motley crowd was a new low from the perennial election loser.
“With Atiku staging a theatre of the absurd, we fail to see how a march to INEC by a scanty crowd will provide any victory window for him and his fragmented PDP. The only recourse open to Atiku after the electoral umpire declared Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the President-elect, is the Election Petition Tribunal.
“Instead Atiku and his party wisely spend their time to gather the so-called evidence they hope to present before the courts, they are busy dancing ‘skelewu’ on the streets and causing traffic nuisance to residents of the Federal Capital Territory who were going to work on a Monday morning.
“We don’t expect a former Vice President of Nigeria, a statesman and a Presidential candidate to be so jobless as to have time to disturb public peace over an electoral outcome he had already said he would challenge in court”, the APC PCC stated.
The council also admonished Alhaji Atiku “to respect his age and the high office of the Vice Presidency of Nigeria he once occupied.”
“He should stop being tele-guided by Dino Melaye, who disclosed scandalously that N400 billion was wasted on the election, which was clear at the outset that Atiku was bound to lose.
“Atiku should avoid being misdirected by other court jesters in his party, who continued to campaign after the election, still spewing their inanities against the President-elect. They are mere comic characters in a travelling theatre group.
“INEC Headquarters is not a court where the prayers of Alhaji Atiku can be answered. No amount of theatrical display will give him succour. The honourable and lawful path to take is for Atiku to get his lawyers to plead his case in court.
“He should stop throwing tantrums like a baby whose candy was taken away over an election he clearly lost due to his own poor judgment; mismanagement of his own party and violation of power rotational arrangement between the North and the South. The PDP presidential candidate dug his own grave in his last election and, absurdly, he is trying to rewrite the script of his own utter failure.
“We wonder how Atiku and his party hoped to win, when he himself admitted that Peter Obi, his running mate in 2019, ran away with traditional PDP votes from the South-East and South-South.”
“We advise Atiku to retire honourably from politics and move to his abode in Dubai. At 77 in November, Atiku does not have age on his side again. He has participated in his last election and hopefully, he has learnt worthy lessons, never to place his selfish interests above party and established principles in his party and the polity.”
