The Buhari Media Organisation has accused Atiku of twisting historical facts in a bid to discredit the outcome of the presidential election. According to the group, the former Vice-President lied when he described the election as the worst in 30 years.
BMO in a statement signed by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju, and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke, said, “Perhaps, the most embarrassing of Atiku’s half-truths is his claim that the 2019 presidential election is the worst he has seen in 30 years, but any one that witnessed elections in the country since 1999 would easily discountenance the former Vice-President’s position. “Here is a man who was an integral part of the government that conducted the 2007 elections which even the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, who benefited from it, described in uncomplimentary terms. Every adult Nigerian knows that at the time of the announcement of the results, some state presidential results had not been compiled or transferred to INEC headquarters in Abuja. Atiku was on the losing side then as the presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, yet he has the audacity to publicly denounce the 2019 election as worse than that one.” The pro-Buhari group noted that it was instructive that local and international observers had a different view from Atiku’s position.
“Whereas the PDP presidential candidate dismissed the elections as filled with irregularities, international observers have since expressed a contrary view. The European Union Observer mission led by Maria Arena described the elections as the most democratic in the nation’s history.” On Atiku’s position on voter turnout in Borno and Yobe states, the group said it was shocking that the opposition candidate expected it to be far lower than the 2015 figures. “Today, the two states are largely free of Boko Haram activities though there had been pockets of attacks on military formations, so it is uncharitable for one of the zone’s most eminent politicians to talk down on the progress that his people have been witnessing in recent years for political expediency. What Nigerians saw on election day in Yobe and Borno states is a reflection of the new lease of life, unlike in 2015 when several villages and farmlands were deserted,” the group said.Photo Credit: Getty
