THE Action Congress (AC), yesterday, warned of the imminent release of President Olusegun Obasanjo�s last joker against Vice-President Atiku Abubakar with a plot to stop him as the party�s presidential candidate through the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The party in a statement said INEC under pressure from the presidency was now set to stop Atiku from contesting the presidential election.
However, in a sharp response, Dr. Mohammed Jamuare, INEC Commissioner for Information, claimed ignorance of any such plot. �I don��t know anything. I don��t know anything,� the commissioner said in a telephone interview with Vanguard yesterday.
Meanwhile, the party is to commence its campaigns for the April general elections with the commissioning of its presidential campaign office tomorrow.
The AC in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the plan to bar Atiku had become the last card for President Obasanjo who he claimed had exhausted every other option to stop Atiku from succeeding him.
He, nevertheless, warned that INEC lacked the power to bar or stop any candidate from contesting the election even as he noted recent court pronouncements made on the issue.
The party said: �AC is fully aware of the President�s supposed last joker, which is to force INEC not to clear the VP in contravention of the laws of the land. It is common knowledge that this Presidency based on its steepness in lawless and unconstitutional acts, will not hesitate to bring the nation down just to stop one man from contesting the presidential polls on April 21.
�However, we will like to warn that there is always a limit to political hubris, especially under a democratic dispensation in a politically-sophisticated country like ours,� the party said.
Noting the incapacity of INEC to bar a candidate from the elections, the party said: �May we re-state our earlier position that INEC has no business verifying candidates for the forthcoming elections as such action is not grounded in law. We will also like to remind the Presidency and INEC that this is not the military era, when one all-powerful dictator will ram his will, whether legal or illegal, down the throats of a captive and helpless citizenry.�