Atiku not destined to be President – Oshiomhole

… Insists Akpabio was rigged out

… Faults Atiku’s South South votes’ statistics

OBIORA IFOH, Abuja

The National Chairman of All Progressives Congress, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has said that presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Atiku Abubakar is not destined to be president and that it was arrogance for Atiku to think that the future of Nigeria is tied to his Presidency.

Oshiohmole who was responding to Atiku Abubakar’s statistical claims that south south votes were tampered with claimed that in Akwa Ibom, results shows that Senator Godswill Akpabio was rigged out and there was no explanation for the huge cancellations of votes in his zone.

While addressing the media in Abuja on Thursday, Oshiomohle said, “I think it is arrogance for Atiku to think that our future is tied to his Presidency. Atiku is destined never to be President of Nigeria and I ask you to review his character. Leadership is about character. Atiku’s desperation is so obvious. He is so desperate that in 2003, he challenged his own boss, Obasanjo. He decamped to join ACN and we offered him the ticket and he lost the election and returned to PDP. He contested again and lost the nomination and because he has only his interest at heart, he decamped again from PDP. He joined us in Lagos and rolled out the dollars, but we voted for Buhari as our candidate. He knew that he cannot defeat Buhari in the primary and went back to the PDP. Do you think that such a political rolling stone, does he think that Nigerians are so insincere as to think that a man who is not stable and whose interest is about himself will be a possible candidate to be elected.

“What makes him have that sense of entitlement that he must be President of Nigeria? You cannot deny anyone the right to dispute the outcome of an election however free and fair. So, we hope and we are looking forward to meeting Atiku Abubakar in court. We might also choose to also cross petition because there were many areas we can dispute. In Adamawa state, he had already lost the election before he did some magic that gave him that narrow victory in Adamawa state.”

Oshiomhole said the turn out of voters in the north east, especially in Borno state was a reflection of the substantial peace that has returned to the area, adding that if the former Vice President does not know about the peace in the area, it could be because he does not go home regularly.

“Atiku spoke about what he called statistical impossibility and also about the two zones where he is strongest and that votes in those areas were smaller and the margin of victory also small. In 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari got fewer votes than he got in 2015 and from INEC figures, we secured 15.2 million votes. So, when Alhaji Atiku Abubakar talks about statistical impossibilities, I don’t want to call him a poor student of history, but invite you to look at the figures of registered new voters.

“If Atiku had taken time to review the performance of his political party over the years and compare them to that of President Buhari over the same period, he wold have understood and be clearer. To suggest that votes were suppressed in the south south and the south east is not to be able to appreciate what the resort to card readers have done to election riggers.

“When we conducted an isolated election in Anambra state, no governor secured 400,000 votes and any one who is familiar with the realities of Rivers state know that if you conduct a free and fair election and you deny periwinkles the opportunity to come out and vote, it is impossible for them to get up to 500,000 votes. Yet, you had situations where you had 99 percent of voters turning out to vote in Rivers state before the advent of the card reader. Rather than Atiku thinking that rigging has come to stay and could not understand why the numbers can’t add up in the absence of massive rigging, he should be reminded that the essence of the collective effort that has been made and the intervention of genuine friends of Nigeria has been to try to improve the electoral process such that rigging can be eliminated or reduced to tolerable level.

“As I speak, we have petition that we have written to INEC on how we were rigged out in Akwa Ibom state and it is interesting that it is the PDP that is complaining about rigging in Akwa Ibom state. How do you explain that INEC cancelled so many units in several states in other to be able to declare PDP candidates winners. That was how Senator Akpabio was rigged out in Akwa Ibom state.

“When the National Peace Committee invited political parties to commit themselves to peace and to pledge to accepting the outcome of the results, you will recall that the PDP and their candidate were absent at the first meeting. Following public outcry and pressure from their friends, they reluctantly went to sign the peace accord. So, from day one, Atiku made up his mind that unless he wins, the election is not free and fair and that it will only be free and fair if he is returned as the winner. Then, we ask the question, what is the value of the peace accord?

“Atiku also alleged that the economy lost N85 billion on hearing that President Buhari won the election. That is twisting the facts. When Atiku start talking about his irrevocable commitment to privatise and sell NNPC, many people wondered aloud whether he has not already collected deposit, especially when he says even if he was going to die. Was he going to rule Nigeria against our will because democracy does not end at voting. Citizens must hold their leaders accountable for their policy choices. So, if those depositors see that it will not be business as usual and decided to take their flight, we dent even want them to come back. Nigeria need genuine investors who have faith in our country with long term interest.”

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