APC Chief says Atiku was deceived over INEC server

Following tribunal judgement on the outcome of 2019 presidential election, the National Vice-Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (North-East) Mustapha Salihu, has said that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was deceived by some people.

Mustapha said Atiku was deceived into believing that the results of the February 23 presidential election were transmitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s server.

He said that was the reason President Muhammadu Buhari was declared the authentic winner of the poll by the Election Petitions Tribunal on Wednesday, September 11, 2019, Punch reports.

He said, “Nobody uses server today. You don’t have one big box that is called server anywhere. They (Atiku and the PDP) were ‘jobbed’. Some people told them there was a server, took money and they filed a case based on that. Although their lawyers did a good job in presenting the case, it was dismissed. The victory is not for the APC alone but for all Nigerians. Now that we have done away with the distraction ‘the next level’ is assured.”

The APC Chief was reported to have said this during the inaugural meeting of the Adamawa Stakeholders’ Meeting where a reconciliation committee was raised,.

Mustapha said the committee was set up “to synergise and rebuild the party in Adamawa State.”

He maintained that Atiku’s loss at the tribunal was expected, adding that the issues he raised over the 2019 presidential poll were frivolous.

“How can you question the credentials of somebody who had served as a platoon commander, company commander, battalion commander, General Officer Commanding, minister, military administrator, Head of State and President?

“A lot of things happened from 2014 that they started looking for his record. I had the opportunity to serve in the army and I know they will not photocopy your credentials until they have seen your original credentials no matter who your father is.

“Many people have been dismissed from the Nigerian Defence Academy because the military will make background checks. There is a unit that does that,” he said.

Reacting to Mustapha’s comment, the PDP said his claim was incorrect and unfounded.

The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Olagbondiyan, said the position of the party and Atiku that INEC used a server for the election could not be disputed.

Ologbondiyan said, “How can he be talking like that? He talked like an illiterate. INEC has a server.”

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has confessed that he almost had trauma when election tribunal was deciding the case between him and Atiku.

The President said that it took the grace of God and the distraction of the first Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting of his second term, to keep his emotions in check