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Poll: I’Ve No Age, Drug Record Controversy, Atiku Takes Swipe At Tinubu

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The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has taken a swipe at the President-Elect, Bola Tinubu, declaring him as unfit to preside over the affairs of the nation.

Atiku, in a fresh process he filed before the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja, admitted that though he had been contesting presidential elections since 1993, he, unlike Tinubu, has “a drug-free record.”

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“The 1st petitioner, unlike the 2nd Respondent (Tinubu), has consistently been contesting presidential elections, given the 1st Petitioner’s drug-free record, and has never had controversy surrounding his age, circumstances of his birth, state of origin, gender, educational qualification, health status, working career, and citizenship, all issues bordering on constitutional qualification to contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Atiku added in his reply to Tinubu’s preliminary objection to his petition.

It will be recalled that Tinubu had in his reply to a petition seeking to nullify his election, described Atiku as a consistent serial loser that had since 1993 crisscrossed different political parties in search of power.

READ ALSO: Tribunal: Atiku Rejigs Legal Team

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The President-elect said he would during the hearing of the petition, lead evidence before the court to show how Atiku’s emergence as a candidate in the presidential election held on February 25, led to the “Balkanisation” of the opposition PDP.

According to him: “The 1st petitioner (Atiku) has been consistently contesting and losing successive presidential elections in Nigeria since 1993, whether at the party primary election level or at the general election; including 1993, when he lost the Social Democratic Party, SDP, primary election to the late Chief M.K.O Abiola; 2007, when he lost the presidential election to the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua; 2011, when he lost the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP presidential primary election to President Goodluck Jonathan; 2015, when he lost the APC primary election to President Muhammadu Buhari; 2019, when he lost the presidential election to President Muhammadu Buhari; and now, 2023, when he has again, lost the presidential election to the respondent.

“Further to (iv) supra, it was/is not a surprise and/or not by accident that the electorate rejected the 1st petitioner at the polls of the presidential election held on 25th February 2023,” he added.

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However, in his response, Atiku, maintained that the President-elect had “demonstrated inconsistency as to his actual date of birth, secondary schools he attended (Government College Ibadan); his State of origin, gender, actual name; certificates evidencing Universities attended (Chicago State University).”

READ ALSO: I Told Atiku, Tinubu, Others To Quit For Fresh Energies — Soyinka

He added: “The purported degree Certificate of the 2nd Respondent allegedly acquired at the Chicago State University did not belong to him but to a female (F) described as “F” in the Certificate bearing the name Bola Tinubu.

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“The 2nd Respondent did not disclose to the 1st Respondent (INEC) his voluntary acquisition of the citizenship of the Republic of Guinea with Guinean Passport No. D00001551, in addition to his Nigerian citizenship. The 2nd Respondent is hereby given notice to produce the original copies of his said two passports”.

Besides, Atiku, who came second at the presidential election held on February 25, told the court that Tinubu “has a record of criminal forfeiture of the sum of $460, 000. 00 for the drug-related offence before the United States Judge, John A Nordberg in the 2nd Respondent’s First Heritage Account No. 263226700, being proceeds of narcotics-trafficking in violation of 18 USC 1956 and 1947 for an offence involving narcotics”.

He insisted that the APC candidate did not meet the constitutional threshold and “is constitutionally disabled from contesting for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.

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READ ALSO: Atiku’s Camp Raises Alarm Over Tinubu’s State Of Health, Whereabouts

Serial election loser

On the claim that he is a serial election loser, Atiku likened himself to President Buhari, who he said had equally contested presidential elections multiple times before he eventually won in 2015.

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He urged the court to dismiss Tinubu’s contention that the petition was incompetent by virtue of the failure to join the candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi and that of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Rabiu Kwankwaso as necessary parties.

Atiku told the court that he does not have any grievance against both Obi or Kwankwaso as they were not returned as the winner of the presidential election by INEC.

Consequently, he prayed the court to dismiss Tinubu’s preliminary objection for being “frivolous, misconceived, face-saving, vexatious, absolutely and completely unfounded.

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UPDATED: Why I Resigned From PDP – Sen. Urhoghide

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Senator Mathew Urhoghide, representing Edo South Senatorial District, on Wednesday announced his resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

This was contained in a letter to the acting chairman of the party and made available to newsmen in Benin.

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The Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Account in the letter, said that the decision was due to the irreconcilable differences and squabbles within the PDP at the national and in the state.

His letter reads in part: “I write to formally inform you and entire member of the PDP that I am resigning my membership of the party, effective immediately.

READ ALSO: Edo 2024: Edo Senator, Urhoghide, Resigns Membership Of PDP

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“My decision arose out of the negative political energy emanating at the moment from the irreconcilable differences and squabbles within the PDP at the national level and especially in my dear state.

“These squabble have spiked to the level that have made it impossible for someone who is a confirmed democrat to function and grow as I envisage in my political journey

“This letter is fulfilling the promise I made to the leader of the PDP that I will consult and inform formally when and if I decided to step out of the PDP.

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” I am grateful to the party which yielded me the opportunity to achieve the mission of serving as a two-term Senator .

“Which afforded me the opportunity to express my self and in a way that I have been able to affect my senatorial district,” he said.

READ ALSO: Oyo Police Storm Motor Park Chair, Auxiliary’s Hideout, Arrest 78 With Arms

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Urhoghide noted that the opportunity has helped him to build lasting friendship within the national and state party hierarchy and at the Senate.

He added: “These friendship I shall draw on going forward, and above all imbibed in me knowledge and experience that I could not have gotten anywhere else.”

Urhighide, however, solicited for prayer as he took the bold step in the belief that it was the purpose of the almighty God in his interference in the affairs of men.

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Edo 2024: Edo Senator, Urhoghide, Resigns Membership Of PDP

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State has lost the membership of Senator Matthew Aisagbonriodion Urhoghide, an influential member and leader of the party in the state.

Urhoghide is the current senator representing Edo South in the National Assembly.

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Urhoghide’s resignation is contained in a letter sent to the press of the senate today.

READ ALSO: Court Adjourns Peter Obi’s Petition Over Employees Illness

The former Senator is rumored to be oiling his political machinery to contest the 2024 governorship election in the stats on the platform of the Labour Party.

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Wike No Longer In PDP, Says NEC member

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A member of the Peoples Democratic Party’s National Executive Committee, Timothy Osadolor, says the immediate-past governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, is no longer a member of the party, given his conduct before, during and after the 2023 general elections.

Osadolor, who gave the hint in a telephone conversation with The PUNCH on Tuesday, noted that the leadership of the party had decided to isolate Wike and render him inconsequential in the affairs of the PDP.

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According to him, Wike’s recent public outings wherein he appeared to be leaning towards the All Progressives Congress, give him away as a man in perpetual craving for the spotlight at all times and regardless of the cost to his image as an opposition political leader.

He said, “The PDP has ignored Wike because the man is no longer himself. There are more ways to deal with people apart from sanctioning them. You can keep someone in isolation. He (Wike) can boast that he is the one that stayed away but is it not better to stay away than come to party activities and nobody wants to associate with you? He has been given a cold treatment because he went to court to procure a judgment that says he cannot be suspended but there is no judgment that says he cannot be avoided. That is what the PDP has been doing to him and technically, if Wike wants to say the truth, he will tell you that he is no longer a member of the PDP. No PDP leader or member behaves the way he does.”

But in a swift reaction, a chieftain of the PDP and immediate past Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Chris Finebone, said Wike remained a bona fide member of the opposition party.

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Describing Osadolor’s comments as wishful thinking, Finebone said he does not have any power to speak for the party.

READ ALSO: Ministerial Appointment: Disquiet In APC Over Wike, Tinubu Romance

He stated, “We can’t identify who he represents, but I think it is wishful thinking. It is wishful thinking and the man who is said to have said that is inconsequential as far as we are concerned.

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“And so, whatever he has said is of no effect. His Excellency, the former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, is 110 per cent a member of PDP and nothing has changed. And nothing can change it.”

On the accusation that Wike has been hobnobbing with Tinubu, he said it was petty and frivolous.

 

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