I will not validate “mandate banditry”, Atiku protests PEPT verdict

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said he never issued any statement congratulating President Bola Tinubu on the verdict of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).

 

Atiku, in a statement by his media aide, Paul Ibe, on Thursday, said he will not “validate mandate banditry,” as it will be Tabtam to “rape on the conscience of Nigerians.”

 

He dismissed the purported statement congratulating Tinubu as ” fake news being orchestrated by those desperately looking for validation for the usurpation of the mandate of Nigerians.”

 

According to him, “if their conscience is clear and they are convinced that their victory is valid, they don’t have to blackmail their political opponents into congratulating them through fake news.”

 

“Why should a man be desperate for validation? Does truth require validation? Why should you issue a congratulatory statement and attribute it to Atiku if your conscience is not troubled by the electoral heist you have perpetrated.”

 

The former vice president said he has already mandated “his lawyers to proceed to the Supreme Court to challenge the judgement of the election petition tribunal.”

 

He stated that “to confirm that the purported message is fake and pedestrian, it was addressed to the ‘President-elect.’ Though we know it is a pyrrhic victory, is it not ridiculous to still address Bola Tinubu as ‘President-elect’ five months after swearing-in?

“This struggle is not about Atiku; it’s about Nigeria and the future of our democracy. By allowing election riggers to get away with their misdeeds, our democracy will be in greater jeopardy. Consent is essential to democratic mandate; ruling people against their will undermines everything democracy stands for.

 

“The Waziri has nothing personal against President Tinubu. He owes him no ill will. Let me, however, make it very clear that this struggle is about principle and justice. He is not in this struggle because he hates Tinubu. He is in it to ensure that people who rigged elections are not allowed to get away with it. Injustice and rigging promote bitterness and division. No leader should be proud to lead angry and aggrieved citizens. “