The presidential flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has described President-elect, Bola Tinubu, as an unfit man that cannot govern Nigeria.
Atiku said Tinubu is robed with drug and dual citizenship scandals, unlike him, that has been able to run for the office of the president of Nigeria since 1993 without any controversy, reports Daily Independent.
He alleged that Tinubu is unfit to lead Nigeria having been indicted for drug related offences in the United States of America (USA) and made to forfeit a sum of $460,000 as a compromise agreement.
Apparently reacting to Tinubu’s description of him (Atiku) as a “serial election loser”, the former vice president described Tinubu as a “giant in forfeiture, drug related offences” and alleged that he failed to disclose his dual nationality to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Atiku’s outbursts are contained in his reply to Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) response to his petition, challenging the process and the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.
The Waziri Adamawa explained that unlike Tinubu, his own identity, comprising age, state of origin and educational qualifications have never been in dispute.
Atiku insisted that Tinubu is constitutionally disabled from contesting for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The PDP presidential candidate’s response was filed by his lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN).
Justifying why the declaration of Tinubu as President-elect cannot stand in the eyes of the law, Atiku said, “Tinubu holds dual citizenship of Nigeria and Guinea, having voluntarily acquired the citizenship of the Republic of Guinea”.
More so, Atiku claimed that Tinubu did not disclose facts of his constitutional qualifications in his Form EC9, which he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission contrary to the provisions of the law.
Atiku said that the “President-elect is certainly not a titan and maestro in national stature but in controversies such as age, state of origin, identity, educational qualifications represented by certificates obtained from universities and colleges.
“The comparison of the second respondent (Tinubu) with the first petitioner (Atiku) who had attained the eminent position of Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for eight years is totally unfounded”, he said.
Atiku requested for the annulment of the declaration of Tinubu as President-elect, insisting Tinubu never won majority of the lawful votes cast in the February 25 presidential election.
The PDP presidential candidate, among other pleas, averred that Tinubu failed part of the constitutional requirements having failed to secure 25% of the votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, as constitutionally required.
Atiku posited that the return of Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election “is undue, unlawful and invalid”, stressing that the APC presidential candidate did not meet the constitutional requirements.
Instead of addressing the issues raised against him and the disputed election, Atiku noted that Tinubu deliberately chose not to answer points of substance in the petition and opted for extraneous facts, contradictory, evasive, speculative and vague assertions.
The former Vice President claimed that his petition did not in any way constitute a gross abuse of any court process, adding that the originating summons of February 28, 2023, filed at the Supreme Court by Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, and Sokoto states have since been discontinued.
At any rate, Atiku said that parties in the suit of the six PDP controlled states are not the same in his own petition and therefore prayed the Presidential Election Petition Court to discountenance the objections and the averments raised against the petition by Tinubu and grant him all the reliefs sought in the petition.
Meanwhile, Media Adviser to Atiku Abubakar, Mr. Paul Ibe, said that the only thing in common between Atiku and Tinubu is the “year 1993”.
Ibe said while it was the year that Atiku started his presidential campaign run, it was also the same year that Tinubu fell to the U.S. justice system over his indictment and conviction for drug trafficking and money laundering for which he forfeited a whopping sum of $460,000.
