Barely 48 hours to Sat-urday�s presidential election, Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the Pres-idential candidate of the Action Congress (AC), and his All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) counterpart, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, have disagreed on whether or not to participate in the election. The crack in the opposition camp may have arisen from mutual distrust and suspicion between the two leading opposition presidential candidates.
Last night, the Vice President and other leaders of his party, including the National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, the Vice Presidential candidate, Senator Ben Obi, and Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, the Director General of Atiku Presidential Campaign Org-anisation, met for several hours at the Gimbiya Street, Abuja Campaign office, to take a stand on whether to go ahead with the boycott of the election or not.
At the end of the meeting, the leaders resolved that Atiku should go ahead and contest if Buhari contests as would likely the case. Buhari was quoted to have told a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), correspondent yesterday that he would contest the election.
That statement and other suspicious actions of the ANPP candidate convinced Atiku and the AC that he could no longer be trusted, a competent party source close to the Vice President revealed last night.
The AC, the ANPP and 16 other opposition parties had on Tuesday threatened to boycott the Presidential election unless the Federal Government takes measures to provide “a level playing ground” for all contestants.
Atiku, sources revealed, prefered the boycott option despite securing a Supreme Court victory quashing his earlier disqualification by the Indep-endent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Earlier yesterday, the fresh move to stop the Vice President from contesting this Saturday’s presidential election suffered a major setback as the Federal High Court in Abuja adjourned the case till April 24, 2007, three days after the presidential election.
Yesterday, Atiku’s party passed a vote of no confidence on the Independent National Electoral Com-mission (INEC) by the party and the ruling People�s Demo-cratic Party (PDP).
This is coming even as the Coalition of Opposition Candidates (COC), which on Tuesday agreed to call for a postponement of the presidential election will be meeting later today to evaluate the position taken by the opposition parties which AC was signatory to.
Addressing the media in Abuja, AC Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, and attended by the Vice President and his running mate, Senator Ben Obi the party said it is appalled by the brazen illegality committed by the INEC and the Obasanjo led government and stressed that given the massive rigging of last Saturday�s election, the party has decided not to participate in any other elections.
THISDAY checks however revealed that the ANPP’s reluctance to join the polls boycott train may constrain Atiku to rethink the decision not to contest. Infact, an AC official last night accused Buhari of playing a double game by not unambiguosly announcing his non participation in the polls.
The official said Buhari’s attitude on the issue may also compel the Vice President to go ahead and contest the election.
Due to the existing uncertainty, the AC decided to defer the ratification of the boycott decision until after a meeting of its executive scheduled for last night. But the party nevertheless called on Nigerians and other political parties to shun the elections in defence of democracy and the country.
�Last Saturday�s election cannot by any standard be adjudged free, fair and credible. It was a sham, a fraud, and a farce beyond comparison in its level of ludicrousness and absurdity. It cannot stand. It must not stand.
“It is immoral and it must be condemned. All those responsible for such unconscionable rape on democracy should be ashamed of themselves.
�Democracy cannot thrive on fraud. Democracy will not survive in Nigeria if elections can be rigged with such impunity. Democracy will not survive in our country if elections are characterised by violence, theft of ballot boxes, stuffing of ballot papers, late or non-arrival of election officials and materials, and falsification of election results by the so-called Independent National Electoral Com-mission (INEC) in favour of PDP candidates, with few token states conceded to the opposition out of fear of the wrath of the people�.
Akande also accused Obasanjo of playing out the final part of his script towards perpetual dictatorship, which started with the attempt to weaken the legislature seven years ago.
“But this move towards tyranny started a long time ago and it is important to give some background in order to put it in proper context and to clearly demonstrate that it is a move that has been planned and scripted with the on-going elections as the endgame.
“In short, the unprecedented crisis expected to greet the on-going electoral banditry has been designed to lead to a declaration of a state of emergency to enable General Obasanjo consolidate his dictatorship.
�Right from his first term in office as civilian President, General Obasanjo engaged in a vicious struggle to control the National Assembly, which led to frequent changes in the leadership of institution, especially the Senate.
“When the strong-arm tactics did not quite work, financial inducements were introduced to set up members of the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly.
“The same Obasanjo would later appear on national television to accuse and convict without trial members of the National Assembly of corruption.
“The intention, of course, was to thoroughly discredit and weaken that institution and prepare it for his next assault on Nigerian democracy�, the party alleged.
The party accused Obasanjo of deliberately creating crisis in the country in order to declare a state of emergency so that he would become a life president for the country.
�It is, therefore, clear that the crisis enveloping the country today are deliberately created to set the stage for Obasanjo to declare a state of emergency so that he can continue to rule an unwilling people.”
General Obasanjo is likely to take further steps to worsen the crisis so that it would be unmanageable. He would then use it as a ploy to justify such a declaration and try to recall the National Assembly to ratify it knowing fully well that most of the members would be busy with their re-election efforts.
“Under the cover of the state of emergency he would then unilaterally amend the Constitution to enable him to rule for life�.
Spokesman of the Atiku Campaign organisation Mallam Garba Shehu told THISDAY that the decision of the party can be reviewed if conditions listed by the opposition are met saying that the boycott decision is not in contradiction to the stand of the opposition.
Also at the AC press conference were the Edo state gubernatorial flag bearer, Comrade Adams Os-hiohmole.
Meanwhile, the Federal High Court has deferred its ruling on whether or not it could adjudicate on the suit filed by Mallam Umar Faruk asking the court to disqualify the Action Congress candidate because of the indictment of the defendant in the Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF)
Counsel to the defendant, Adeniyi Akintola (SAN) had objected to the hearing of the suit by the court, especially by justice Abimbola Ogie, saying the court had multiple cases arising out of the same subject matter, which constituted an abuse of court.
Akintola urged the court to protect its integrity so that it would not be rubbished on the alter of urgency, saying the court was incompetent to hear the suit.
Justice Ogie had to adjourn briefly and came later to fix the date to rule on whether or not she could hear the case.
Reacting later, Barrister Akintola said since there was no order against Saturday�s election, his client would still contest and that the plaintiff has to return to court after the election to prove his case.