Bullion vans shouldn’t determine election outcome – Atiku

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar, says he is on the side of the masses in the ongoing Naira redesign controversy, adding that he will not want a situation where cash will determine the outcome of the coming elections.

Phrank Shaibu, Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku Abubakar, in a statement in Abuja, said “Atiku loves the people of Nigeria, and he has sufficiently demonstrated his love even at times when it was risky to do so. What Atiku hates, on the other hand, are politicians whose only intention is to compromise the electoral process through monetary inducement.

“We know those politicians who hate Nigerians. They are those who keep stacks of money at home and in bullion vans to buy votes. They are the ones who, the once upright Mallam Nasir el-Rufai comes to the open to defend, and they are the ones who are afraid of the currency change policy.”

According to Atiku, “if Mallam el-Rufai is interested in knowing who hates the people of Nigeria, he should look in the direction of his political master who drove two bullion vans into his residence on the eve of election day in 2019.

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“ The APC and their presidential candidate are crying foul to the currency change policy because they fear the policy will frustrate their plan to take advantage of the impoverishment of Nigerians by the APC through vote buying, a situation that has already commenced, in the 2023 election.

“Of course, the ordinary masses of Nigeria can not stand up to the evil plans of the APC, but that is where Atiku comes in as the bulwark of anti-democratic forces.”

The PDP candidate also said at a point when the masses of Nigeria are groaning under the weight of the currency crunch,” it remains inglorious that the Kaduna State governor would, rather than sympathize with the masses, prefer to go on political entanglement over the issue.

He said” it is curious why Governor el-Rufai and other elements of his ilk in the APC had to wait this long before they found it contingent to speak in disapproval of policies initiated by their own political party. Perhaps, it is because for them, self-interest in an election season is more important than public interest.

“As a matter of fact, the lingering fuel scarcity and, indeed, the currency crisis of which el-Rufai so bitterly complained about did not just start today. In major cities across the country, Nigerians have been contending with the problem of fuel scarcity for almost two years in some places like the Federal Capital Territory, while el-Rufai and others crying foul in the APC turned blind eyes to the plight of Nigerians.

“On the contrary, Atiku Abubakar and the PDP have persistently brought the attention of the country to the sufferings of Nigerians by the APC administration in the past almost eight years.”