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The vice president and presidential candidate of the Action Congress (AC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was last night feared disqualified from contesting the April presidential election. Sources told Daily Sun that the vice president, who has been having a running battle with President Olusegun Obasanjo, is among seven candidates who the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has barred from participating in this year's elections.
The vice president and presidential candidate of the Action Congress (AC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was last night feared disqualified from contesting the April presidential election.
Sources told Daily Sun that the vice president, who has been having a running battle with President Olusegun Obasanjo, is among seven candidates who the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has barred from participating in this year's elections.
However, it was gathered that presidential candidate of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) and Abia State governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, was among other candidates cleared by INEC to contest in the elections.
Contacted for comments last night, Mallam Garuba Shehu, media consultant to the vice president, said that the Atiku camp had not heard of the purported disqualification, adding that the INEC had said it has no power to disqualify any candidate in the election.
On his part, the INEC Director of Public Affairs, Pastor Adeogun, said he was not aware of the development and cannot comment on it. He said that he might get details today.
It would be recalled that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had written to the INEC asking for the disqualification of Atiku based on the report of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which indicted him over his activities as the supervisor of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) as well as the report of the Administrative Panel of Inquiry headed by Attorney-general of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Bayo Ojo.
On Wednesday, the EFCC released 135 names of politicians who it said are not clean enough to contest in the elections. The vice president topped the list.