Presidency not for sale, APC warns Atiku, PDP

All Progressives Congress, APC, has congratulated Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on his emergence as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, 2019 presidential candidate, but told him in clear terms that the seat of Nigeria’s president is not for the highest bidder.

In its first formal reaction to Atiku’s emergence, APC in a statement by its acting spokesman, Yekini Nabena, yesterday in Abuja,  noted that in assessing candidates to be voted for during elections, Nigerians would normally consider the candidate’s background and antecedents.

“The pertinent question to ask about Atiku is what his scorecard in public office was? Regrettably, Atiku’s scorecard is abysmally low and he has proven to be an untrustworthy and unreliable character. A case in point is Atiku’s revealing altercation with his former boss, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, which exposed the level of corruption Atiku was enmeshed in.”

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar,

APC said at the international level, “Atiku has been reportedly placed on the global watch list of the United States of America and has avoided travelling to the US to avoid arrest and prosecution over a money-laundering and corruption case in that country.

“Really, is this the character and antecedent of a candidate Nigerians will be proud to vote for as our President, come 2019?”, it queried.

The ruling party also mocked the PDP candidate for serially leaving one political platform to the other in his morbid obsession to become Nigeria’s president.

“Compared and contrasted with President Muhammadu Buhari’s consistent and principled stance on party affiliations, since 1999, Atiku has moved around different political parties – PDP, ACN, PDP, APC and now PDP, all in his blind and desperate pursuit of his ambition: The Presidency of Nigeria.

“It is, therefore, very clear that if Atiku loses the presidential election in 2019, he will again defect from the PDP to another political platform.

“Atiku is known as a super rich Nigerian who entrenched the undemocratic practice of buying votes of delegates. During the APC National Convention in 2014, he spent several millions of dollars to buy delegates votes and emerged third, after Buhari and Rabiu Kwankwaso. ”

“Our dear President Muhammadu Buhari does not spend a kobo on delegates as he banks only on his proven personal integrity. In any case, how did a retired Customs Officer acquire so much wealth to fund his several presidential bids?”