- Denies tweet threatening street protest over server examination request
Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, denied plans to lead a street protest in the event that the election petition tribunal rules against him and his party, on the issue of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s server.
In an earlier tweet, Atiku said: “The quote purportedly attributed to me with respect to INEC Server, an issue currently before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal is fake and the handiwork of mischief makers. -AA”
He said that in response to a quote credited to a PDP Youth Group which said: “My server results are authentic and if judges frustrate the justice, we will take over the street.
“I will lead all Nigerians in a massive protest that mankind have never witnessed before.”
Atiku’s Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, dismissed the earlier statement attributed to the former presidential candidate.
In a statement Ibe issued in Abuja, Sunday, he said: “I wish to emphatically state that such a statement did not emanate from Atiku Abubakar or his privies.
“It is the work of mischief makers who want to mar his spotless pro-democratic record and lay the groundwork for their threatened actions against him on false charges of being a threat to national security.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Atiku Abubakar believes in the rule of law and in the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“In his almost four decades in politics, he has never taken action or spoken words against democracy and will not start now.
“Atiku and his team have confidence in God and thus, call on those bent on mischief to have the fear of God and retrace their steps. Democracy has come to stay in Nigeria.
“The culture of fear being created now cannot rein in our democracy.
“Nigeria and Nigerians have a consistent history of outlasting tyranny and will continue to do so by the grace of God,” Ibe said. (The Sun)