Former Vice President and chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar has begged those he called ‘political mischief makers’ to allow him enjoy his peace and desist from sinister propaganda designed to draw a wedge between him and President Muhammadu Buhari.
A statement by Atiku’s spokesman, Mazi Paul Ibe, quoted the former Vice President as saying that the intention of such mischief makers is to cause needless distrust and distractions in the President’s government.
In reaction to insinuations the “political mischief makers and enemies of unity”, who alleges that he has been hosting political meetings at Burj Al-Arab, Dubai, Atiku said that contrary to the rumours being bandied around by political opponents, he is currently in Dubai with his family for physiotherapy on his injured knee.
The former Vice President said that he was embarrassed by the deliberate falsehoods being spread against him by political opponents who are bent on causing distraction for President Buhari at a time all energies should be channeled into helping the President actualize his change agenda.
Describing rumour mongers as “ill-motivated busybodies that don’t wish the country well,” Atiku, who holds a traditional title of Turaki Adamawa said that his medical treatment is his private affairs, which should not be politicized by anybody to achieve sinister objectives.
He said that he is entitled to enjoy his private life, including the right to attend to his health, without being harassed and lied against by political opponents.
According to him, the success of the Buhari administration has been his preoccupation, and that any true APC member should have the same zeal, adding that rumour mongers that seek to cause distrust and distraction in Buhari’s government do not mean well for the APC administration.
The former Vice President said that with the challenges of providing good governance for the country and creating job opportunities for Nigerians, including reducing the impact of poverty, President Buhari needs all the goodwill and support in this endeavour.
“Whether at home or abroad, I am preoccupied with my unassailable support to President Buhari and his administration, especially in this critical time, as it works assiduously to turn the fortunes of our dear country around and make Nigeria work for the greater good of Nigerians.”
According to Atiku, rumour mongers and mischief makers are toxic to the progress of the APC and the country at large, adding that the campaigns are gone, and therefore, all energies should be constructively devoted to the success of the Buhari administration.
“This is yet another plot of the enemies of our country and democracy to divide, divert attention and distract the APC in its avowed commitment to secure the country, provide jobs for the mass of unemployed youths, build needed critical infrastructure, enthrone a regime of probity and accountability and pull the country out of the economic woods it has been consigned to by locust years of mismanagement.” [myad]
