By Umar Muhammad Puma with agency report
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has dismissed speculation that he was planning to dump the All Progressives Congress for the Peoples Democratic Movement to realise his presidential ambition.
“The former Vice President stated in a meeting with stakeholders in the media in Lagos last month that the APC is his “final bus stop”, Atiku said in a statement by his media office, made available to Premium Times yesterday.
“That proclamation still stands. Atiku Abubakar does not intend to leave the APC for the PDM or any other party.”
The former vice president was reacting to a newspaper publication suggesting that he was plotting to leave the APC.
“Atiku Abubakar believes in the ‘Change’ message of the APC. He believes that the party is the force that will enable Nigerians to vote the PDP out of power come 2015. He believes that APC is progress,” the statement said.
“This change and progress that Nigerians hope for will include a media which can be relied upon to provide the public with factual, unbiased information–without being swayed by the unscrupulous dictates of anyone who can afford to pay for their services.
“This message of change is consistent with Atiku Abubakar’s campaign slogan: “A Nigeria for all”.
Describing the publication as egregiously false, Atiku said it should be discountenanced by all Nigerians.
The statement read: “Our attention has been drawn to a recent publication in the Nigerian Pilot newspaper, which alleges that APC Chieftain and presidential aspirant, Atiku Abubakar, intends to “dump the opposition party (APC) for the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM”.
“This information is not only egregiously false, but our investigations have traced it to a senior APC member from the Northeast zone, who is working to further the presidential ambitions of another aspirant within the party. He is also known to be working with certain elements in the PDP.
“Sadly, this is not the first time that the Nigerian Pilot newspaper has yielded itself as a tool for the dirty machinations of this particular unscrupulous fellow. “The Atiku Media Office has over the past few months had to issue a number of rejoinders against falsehoods of such low quality published by the newspaper.
“We, hereby, advise the public to completely disregard any information about Atiku Abubakar that is published by the Nigerian Pilot”, it stated.
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