Unscrupulous elements out to tarnish my image — Atiku

The presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2019 election and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has raised an alarm of an alleged plot by anti-democratic forces to tarnish his reputation.

In a statement signed by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, in Abuja, yesterday, Atiku said it was becoming clear that some elements have made themselves available for use against him.

The statement read: “We wish to blow the whistle as an early warning alert of the grandiose scheme being put together by some unscrupulous elements aimed at jeopardizing the reputation of His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, in the coming days and weeks.

“By the merit of what is beginning to unfold, there are plans to create some upset across the country whereby alleged perpetrators of such crimes will engage in phantom names dropping of Atiku Abubakar and some senior personalities in Peoples Democratic Party.

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“Already, we are abreast of some other plans to plant fictitious stories in some mushroom media outlets aimed at discrediting Atiku and his political party, the PDP.

“It, therefore, becomes preponderant that we alert the public of this demonic plan and to say that it will be imprudent to compromise the peace and security of Nigerians in order to score a cheap political goal.

“Towards this end, and for the umpteenth time, we call on the Federal Government to be awake to its responsibilities of providing security and ensuring peace and to desist from actions and utterances that are capable of exposing our fault lines.

“It is very unsettling that senior administration officials, especially those who are the mouthpiece of the government, will make reckless but calculated comments to tarnish the image of Atiku Abubakar and government will sit idly on it.

“With the conclusion reached by Premium Times’ investigative reporting that there is no evidence to back the claim by Lai Mohammed that the opposition was planning to upstage the government, we demand that the Information Minister should be arrested for raising a false alarm and an apology rendered to Atiku Abubakar and PDP.”