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The Action Congress (AC) has dismissed as wishful thinking and sheer blackmail speculations that its presidential candidate in the last general elections, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, will drop his legal challenge against Yar'Adua's election if the purported indictment against him (Atiku) is lifted by the Federal Government.
The Action Congress (AC) has dismissed as wishful thinking and sheer blackmail speculations that its presidential candidate in the last general elections, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, will drop his legal challenge against Yar'Adua's election if the purported indictment against him (Atiku) is lifted by the Federal Government.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also described the speculations, which have made their way into the newspapers, as a continuation of the campaign of calumny against the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation by the lawless EFCC and its cohorts.
'For the avoidance of doubt, no amount of blackmail will compel our presidential candidate to withdraw his current legal challenge against the widespread fraud and massive rigging that attended April's presidential elections.
'This case was instituted purely on the basis of principle and to strengthen our democracy by making elections to count and stopping the long-standing culture of impunity that has dogged elections in Nigeria. Any withdrawal will amount to a betrayal of the former VP's numerous supporters and indeed most Nigerians, who are tired of the cycle of electoral fraud," the party said.
On the purported indictment against Atiku, AC said it only existed in the imagination of the likes of EFCC Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, who, together with his mentor, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, concocted the fake charges in the first instance.
'The rulings of the federal High Court and that of Justice Inumidun Akande of the Lagos High Court have already nullified the vindictive Ojo panel. May we also recall that the Supreme Court cleared Atiku to contest the 21 April presidential election, so there can be no basis for anyone to continue to use a non-existent indictment as a Sword of Damocles over an innocent man.
'We have no deal with the Federal Government or President Umaru Yar'Adua to drop any legal challenge in response to the lifting of a purported indictment, and we dare the FG to say otherwise," the party said.
The truth is that Ribadu's EFCC, desperate for sympathy in its unnecessary tussle against the office of the AGF, is behind this downright stupid campaign just to ridicule the AGF and to continue to throw mud at our presidential candidate, even when all the ones they threw in the past failed to stick.
'If Ribadu wants relevance or sympathy, he should leave us out of it.
'But our advice to Ribadu is simple: He should resign if he is finding it difficult to operate under a lawful environment. He should know that the Constitution is clear on the fact that the power to institute and to stop any criminal proceedings resides in the AGF. Until the Constitution is amended, therefore, one million Ribadus cannot change that!" AC said.