The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council says Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), “has a constitutional right to seek redress in court”.
Since
losing the February 23 presidential election, Atiku has maintained he
will press for victory in court despite widespread calls on him to
concede the election to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Among the
groups to have recently made the call is the Buhari Support Organisation
(BSO), which Festus Keyamo, Director of Strategic Communicationsof the
APC Presidential Campaign Council, has now disowned.
Keyamo said
the BSO does not in any way speak for Buhari and his party, adding that
the APC was in fact anxious to meet Atiku in court.
“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,” he said.
“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 the election to be free, fair
and credible. No ego-massaging narrative can change that.”
THE FULL STATEMENT
WE DO NOT SEEK TO STOP ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR FROM GOING TO COURT
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.
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.
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 the election 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.
Thank you.
FESTUS KEYAMO, SAN, FCIArb (UK),
Director of Strategic Communications,
APC Presidential Campaign Council
(Official Spokesperson)
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