The Atiku Campaign Organisation has denied an allegation by the Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Mr. Uba Sani, in which he accused Vice President Atiku Abubakar of planning to scuttle the elections.
But the Presidency yesterday advised the Vice President to accept the fact that the game is over for him as far as the presidential race is concerned, adding that it does not in any way feel threatened by him.
In a statement yesterday, the Atiku Campaign said ordinarily, it would have dismissed Uba Sani�s allegations as typical of an unsound mind, but for the gravity of the charges.
“First, we would like to restate that the Vice President is a strong believer in the rule of law and a committed democrat which is why he has so far resorted to the law courts to clear his name of all charges against him. He has pursued his presidential ambition in a peaceful and democratic manner,” it stated.
The Campaign contended that both Atiku and his party, the Action Congress (AC) believe that credible elections are essential to the survival and deepening of democracy in our country adding that all criticisms and observations made so far by Atiku and AC are meant to assist the Independent Electoral Commission towards conducting free and fair elections.
“Those who imposed a two-day holiday on Nigerians to thwart the cause of justice constitute the greatest threat to the conduct of credible elections” Atiku said.
The statement added: “Uba�s allegations should be seen as part of the plot by the government to rope Atiku into a coup plot and it is doomed to fail.
“We therefore, call on Nigerians to ignore this latest against Atiku. If elections do not go as they should, the blame should go to the Presidency for its shoddy preparations, meddlesomeness in the affairs of the Independent National Ele-ctoral Commission (INEC), and the desperation of its PDP government to win at all cost.”
Earlier yesterday, while reacting to the claim by the Atiku camp that the two-day public holidays declared by government was politically motivated, Sani said the Vice President has continued to prove that he is indeed a desperate man, adding that rather than read the handwriting on the wall, Atiku has continued to deceive himself and has “remained stuck in self pity”.
According to Sani, �the statement by the Atiku Campaign Organization insinuating that the public holidays declared by the Federal Government are politically motivated to prevent the courts from adjudicating on the cases before them is absurd, ridiculous and mischievous.
“It is the last desperate move of a man who is steadily on his way to political oblivion�, he stated.
The presidential aide who insisted that the transition train had since left the Vice President behind, said “it is very unfortunate that he has decided not to tow the line of other well meaning Nigerians, adding �that is the way of all who give scant regard to integrity, transparency and accountability�.
While warning Atiku against making any move to distrupt the polls, Sani called on Nigerians to continue to have faith in the continuous survival of the nation as one entity and come out tomorrow to cast their votes to ensure the entrenchment of democracy. He added that “Atiku and his fellow travellers have not made any inroad because rather than fighting for the cause of the generality of Nigerians, they are busy pursuing personal ambitions”.
According to Sani, the Federal Government would not fold its arms while a group of aggrieved people try to cause disaffection in the country.