We are prepared to meet Atiku, Obi in court -APC

The All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential campaign council said the party and its president-elect, Bola Tinubu was prepared to meet Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratically Party (PDP) and his Labour Party counterpart in court over the last Saturday’s polls.

The duo of Atiku and Obi who came second and third respectively to Tinubu at the presidential election at separate press conference in Abuja on Thursday said they were heading to the court to challenge the outcome of exercise.

In a reaction particularly to the resolution of the former Vice President, Festus Keyamo, chief spokesperson of the APC presidential campaign council said
Atiku’s decision to challenge the outcome of the results is welcome.

Keyamo in a statement said they were prepared to meet his challenge, no matter the nature of the challenge, anywhere and anytime.

“In the typical fashion of the last kick of a dying horse, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar this evening addressed the Press and claimed that the 2023 Presidential Election was neither free nor fair.

“He made this bogus claim without providing a shred of evidence, except to trumpet the noise made by his supporters on social media. He also went ahead to make unfounded derogatory comments about the person of the President-elect, ASIWAJU Bola Ahmed Tinubu in obvious bitterness and frustration.

“Atiku Abubakar should be thankful that he even exceeded expectations in the elections by coming 2nd; with all the distractions and fractured party with which he campaigned he must have sensed beforehand that he was headed for a humiliating defeat that should have put him a distant 3rd or 4th in the elections. His performance was therefore the best he could achieve”, he said.

Keyamo said Atiku firstly, breached the zoning principle within his own party by insisting on running for president when that was clearly against the mood of the nation.

The minister of state for labour said
even after emerging as a candidate, the PDP itself continued to rub insult on the faces of southern leaders in the party by insisting on keeping the position of National Chairman in the North.

“This obviously led to the rebellion of the G5 Governors and their subsequent sabotage of the PDP before the polls and at the polls by campaigning against ATIKU’S candidature. His failure to unite his party and manage this post-primaries fall-out was his eventual undoing.

“ATIKU’S bid for the Presidency this time around was dead on arrival when his inordinate ambition fractured his party into 3 parts, with Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwanso and Mr. Peter Obi breaking away to the NNPP and the Labour Party respectively. The massive loss he suffered in traditional PDP zones and States is a clear testament to this.

“One wonders, then, how he expected to have won the election. It is also comical to see that he claims victory at the polls together with Mr. Peter Obi with whom his party has been holding Press Conferences.

“Nigerians have since seen through the ambition of ATIKU that it is merely self-serving. Hence, he has run for Presidency at every point in time in the last 30 years, irrespective of the zoning tilt of the nation. Following his successive failures and rejection by Nigerians in different elections, it should be clear to him by now that he is simply UNELECTABLE.

“Atiku Abubakar’s decision to challenge the outcome of the results is welcome. We are prepared to meet his challenge, no matter the nature of the challenge, anywhere and anytime.

“Af ATIKU Abubakar is not embracing the olive branch extended to him and other losers in the 2023 elections by the President-elect, ASIWAJU Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the least he can do is to quietly relocate to Dubai which has become his traditional home base,” he said.

In response to Obi, Bayo Onanuga, the director of media and publicity of the APC presidential campaign council said his principal and party will be willing to engage the former Anambra governor only if he has concrete evidence to prove he won the presidential election.

Onanuga in a statement titled ‘We will meet Mr Peter Obi in court,’ Onanuga said in an election where the Labour Party candidate emerged third, he found his allegation of fraud ‘very weird.’

He said Obi like every Nigerian, is entitled to seek redress in court if he is convinced his team has evidence of the electoral frauds to present before the tribunal.

“We welcome the decision of Obi to seek redress in court as an aggrieved party if he is convinced of the evidence of electoral frauds he will present before the tribunal as alleged.

“Going to court is part of the electoral process and it is the most decent, statesmanlike and civilised course of action to take. We salute the decision. It is surely better than calling supporters to the streets and instigating social unrest.

“Before Mr. Obi goes to court, we consider it necessary to challenge some specific claims in his press address. Contrary to his statement, it is not true that the election held on February 25 was not free and fair,” Onanuga said.