Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, says he would not step down for the former Governor of Kano state, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso or the Presidential candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi.
TheHintsNews reports that Kwankwaso defected to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) from the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) on Sunday.
Following his defection, it was reported in some sections of the media that Atiku had decided to step aside to pave the way for the Kwankwaso-Obi ticket to challenge President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general election.
However, Atiku, while reacting in a statement issued Monday through his Media Aide, Paul Ibe urged his supporters, members of the ADC, and all well-meaning Nigerians to disregard the fake news in its entirety and remain focused on the collective effort to reclaim and rebuild our nation.
He noted: “We wish to state, for the record, that information circulating on social media about a purported meeting of His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, with stakeholders of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), in which the former Vice President allegedly decided to “step aside and retire from active politics,” is entirely false and deliberately misleading.
“The Waziri Adamawa has not in recent times held any such meeting with ADC stakeholders at the national level. The only recent engagement he had was with stakeholders of the ADC in Adamawa State last Thursday.
“An issue as fundamental and consequential as exiting active politics cannot, and would never, be communicated through rumours, faceless sources, or third-party fabrication. Such a decision, if ever taken, would be formally conveyed through the Atiku Media Office.
“This latest falsehood bears all the hallmarks of a coordinated disinformation campaign designed to create confusion, dampen momentum, and mislead the Nigerian public.
‘‘Only the government and its agents could have sponsored this desperate narrative out of fear of what is coming.
“We state without equivocation that this mischief is being driven by anti-democratic elements who are deeply unsettled by the growing national consensus to rescue Nigeria from the failures of the current administration.”