Phrank Shaibu, the Special Assistant on Public Communication to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar has warned supporters of President Bola Tinubu, against disrupting proceedings at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
Shaibu in a statement issued Sunday said the warning became imperative following the “sponsored protest” Tinubu’s supporters staged at the European Union head office in Abuja after the release of the EU Observer Mission report which revealed how the election failed the credibility test.
The EU report had scored the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) low over the handling of the election.
However, Tinubu’s spokesman, Dele Alake; former Minister of State for Employment, Festus Keyamo; and Femi Fani-Kayode rejected the findings, while a group of APC supporters last Thursday stormed the EU headquarters to protest against the report.
Reacting, Shaibu stated: “We seize this opportunity to send a warning to the Tinubu government and its minions against disrupting the proceedings of the election tribunal as they have shown a clear disdain for the truth by picketing the EU office.
“Recall that in 1999, when the late legendary lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, sued Tinubu for school certificate forgery, thugs were sponsored to cause protests outside the court house. Similarly, when Tinubu was facing charges before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, thugs were similarly sponsored to protest at the trial, all in a bid to intimidate the judiciary.”
Atiku’s aide said he found it curious that the same security agencies which have been issuing statements barring protests were curiously available to provide cover for sponsored pro-government protesters to picket the EU office.
According to him, We sound a note of warning to the security agencies to be on the alert as the tribunal proceedings wind down. The world is watching.
Atiku’s aide noted: “No one needs to be told that the 2023 presidential election was one of the worst ever conducted in Nigeria’s history. The 2007 election was similarly bad, but at least, the key recipient, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, admitted the poll was flawed and immediately kicked off electoral reforms. However, Tinubu, by rejecting the EU report, has ruled out the possibility of electoral reform.
“Tinubu is the opposite of a statesman. He claims the 2023 election is the best Nigeria has had since 1999 and continues to draw parallels between it and the epochal June 12, 1993 election by constantly mentioning the name of MKO Abiola and Hope 93.
Shaibu added that Tinubu was running a government of hypocrisy by attributing the APC’s failures to select scapegoats while failing to point fingers at former President Muhammadu Buhari
He added: “Tinubu blamed Godwin Emefiele for the country’s economic woes and ordered his detention while he continues to shower praises on the man who not only appointed Emefiele but gave him a national award. This is the height of hypocrisy. “
He said that rather than acknowledge that the election was flawed, Tinubu continued to grandstand, thereby infuriating Nigerians.