Caution Atiku against inflammatory allegations, Presidency urges Peace panel

By Lawrence Olaoye

The Presidency has called on the Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar led National Peace Committee to caution the Presidential candidate of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’s presidential candidate,
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, against making provocative and inflammatory allegations against President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a statement made available to newsmen yesterday by the Senior Special Assistant on media and publicity to the President, Mallam Garba Shehu, the Presidency called on the peace panel to act on what it described as a violation by the opposition PDP of the peace accord signed by presidential candidates in December.
Shehu accused the PDP presidential campaign organisation of bad faith, character assassination and inflammatory utterances.
He noted that the open and unsubstantiated allegations against the President’s family by the Atiku Abubakar media campaign contravened the spirit of the peace accord that was signed at the instance of former Head of State, Bishop Mathew Kukah and other eminent public figures who constitute the committee.
“Dragging the President’s family into the campaign and accusing them of wrongdoing without producing unassailable evidence, amounts to an act of bad faith and malice,” he said.
“Instead of concentrating their efforts on persuading Nigerians on why they should be trusted to rule again after 16 years of failure, the PDP presidential campaign organisation is seeking to divert public attention from the large scale corruption and havoc it wreaked on the country during its 16 years of misrule.”
He added that more than one week after accusing President Buhari’s family of corruption and wrong doing, the PDP presidential campaign still cannot provide proof of the allegations against them, despite being encouraged by the Presidency and the public to do so.
“Instead, they are ridiculously expecting the accused to prove their own allegations instead of it being the other way round,” the presidential spokesman said.
Accusing the PDP presidential campaign of being indolent and poor in research , Shehu noted that it was irresponsible to go public with allegations that they could not prove, describing that as something other than politics. “It is sheer desperation and a clear sign of disarray in the PDP campaign,” he said.