Atiku confident he will reclaim his ‘stolen’ mandate from Tinubu in court
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Atiku Abubakar has expressed confidence he will reclaim his “stolen” mandate from Bola Tinubu through his litigation at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) where he is seeking to overturn the election victory of the President.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) described as “temporary” the administration of Tinubu, which was inaugurated on May 29, insisting it was stolen through alleged vote rigging.
Atiku bared his mind at a meeting of elected PDP officials in Bauchi, where the party
urged its federal lawmakers not to be “rubber stamp members of the National Assembly [NASS].”
“You are there to serve as a formidable opposition to this temporary administration,” Atiku told them, per Vanguard.
“Based on the results announced by the INEC [Independent National Electoral Commission] and pending the determination of electoral challenges in the court, our members-elect are not the majority in the National Assembly.
“So, for the time being, they have to prepare to work as an effective, constructive opposition while also preparing for possible roles of the majority party when the cases are resolved. A Government in-waiting, so to speak.”
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Atiku accuses Tinubu of misfiring on fuel subsidy, his first executive decision
Atiku has also knocked Tinubu for having “misfired” on fuel subsidy, his first decision as President, which has landed Nigerians in more hardship.
Tinubu’s announcement in his inaugural speech on May 29 that fuel “subsidy is gone” has triggered fuel price hike from N195 per litre to between N500 and N800 in parts of the country, with across the board multiplier effects on transport costs and on the prices of goods and services.
Tinubu said there is no provision for subsidy in the federal budget from June 2023 and, therefore, it stands removed.
But Atiku at the weekend countered through his aide, Daniel Bwala, that Tinubu should have implemented deliverables to cushion the effect of subsidy removal before making the declaration.
He said both Tinubu and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), failed to provide deliverables before removing subsidy because they want Nigerians to suffer.
“If you don’t know strategy, you suffer political tragedy. The first executive decision of @officialABAT was misfired; not a good sign for him and his economic whisperers. Although all candidates agree on the removal of fuel subsidy, albeit they differ in the procedure,” Bwala wrote in a tweet.
No excuse for APC policy gaffes
“There is no excuse for this policy gaffe because it was a transition between APC @OfficialAPCNg @MBuhari to APC @OfficialAPCNg @officialABAT in which there were comprehensive transition meetings where enough briefings on the travails of the past administration in dealing with fuel subsidy were shared,” Bwala added.
“From when fuel subsidy removal was legislated to date, enough time was had to have provided robust and workable deliverables for cushioning the effect, yet because APC pride on afflicting Nigerians with holocaust hardship they chose that path. They just love to grab power without concrete plans for economic recovery.”