“In addition, we are very anxious to meet Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in court in order to show the world in a conclusive manner the free and fair nature of the comprehensive defeat of Atiku at the polls. An election is not termed ‘rigged’ only by the mere claim of it by the loser,” Festus Keyamo said.
The Official Spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), has denied claims that the governing party has been prevailing on Alhaji Atiku Abubakar not to head to court over the outcome of the February 23 presidential election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, winner of the election with a vote margin of 3,928,869.
Buhari of the APC polled 15,191,847 votes to defeat Atiku of the PDP who polled 11,262,978 votes.
Atiku rejected the results of the election, declaring the exercise an emasculation of democracy and a sham.
The PDP candidate has also promised to overturn the result of the election in court, amid claims that he is being stopped from seeking legal redress by Buhari’s camp.
In a statement sent to The DEFENDER, Keyamo said nothing can be farther from the truth.
The statement said: “Our attention has been drawn to some news item and posts on social media reporting that we wrote a letter to some international bodies to prevail on Alhaji Atiku Abubakar not to proceed to court to challenge the result of the 2019 Presidential Election”, Keyamo wrote.
“Our investigation reveals that a letter to that effect was purportedly written by a certain ‘Buhari Campaign Organisation’. This is the second time we will be informing the public that the said ‘Buhari Campaign Organisation’ does not act at the behest of the APC Presidential Campaign Council nor does it represent the Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation in any way.
“As a result, whatever it has released DOES NOT REPRESENT THE POSITION OF THE APC PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN COUNCIL OR PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI (emphasis not ours).
“Our official position is that we believe that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has a constitutional right to seek redress in court and we do not seek in any way to curtail that right. In fact, it is the resort to court that is the only democratic way to ventilate his perceived grievance and any attempt to restrict or discourage the exercise of such right would be an invitation to anarchy.
“In addition, we are very anxious to meet Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in court in order to show the world in a conclusive manner the free and fair nature of the comprehensive defeat of Atiku at the polls. An election is not termed ‘rigged’ only by the mere claim of it by the loser.
“That is what Atiku and the PDP want to ram down our throats. Unfortunately for them, international, continental and sub-regional observers (who can be seen as neutral by all standards) ALL declared it to be free, fair and credible. No ego-massaging narrative can change that.
“We therefore totally disassociate ourselves from the letter purportedly written by one of, perhaps, many support groups of President Muhammadu Buhari. They may have a right to their opinion, but it does not represent our official position”, the statement added.
On March 2, 2019, Atiku announced that he had inaugurated a legal team tasked with vindicating his assertion that the election was rigged.
But Keyamo said his Candidate, Buhari, cannot wait not only to meet Atiku UI n court but also defeat him in court again.
