Stay Away From Taraba Politics, group tells Atiku

A political pressure group under the auspices of Taraba Peoples Assembly (TPA) has alleged that former Vice President and one of the national leaders of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar is deeply involved in a deadly attempt to rig the Taraba re-run polls slated for April, 25th.

The group said Atiku’s recent utterances has not in any way described him as a statesman and this act has the capacity to destroy the peace the good people of Taraba has enjoyed in recent times.

Daily Times recalled that the Former Vice President , Atiku Abubakar had on Wednesday, 15th April, 2015 in a statement wants all INEC and security officials who compromised last Saturday governorship election in Taraba state replaced in the rerun election in the state.

The former Vice President who lauded the decision by INEC to declare the governorship election in the state inconclusive said elections in the country should not be militarized as the nation was not in a dictatorship, but democracy.

He alleged that armed soldiers were attached to Senator Emmanuel Bwacha; Joel Ikenya, a current minister; as well as Senator Anthony Manzo, chief of staff to senator David Mark, adding that these soldiers engaged in brazen acts that violated the electoral act including ballot-box snatching.

In a press statement in Abuja by its conveners, Bright Istifanus, Deacon Alfred Yehusha, Usman Yero and Esther Hananiya, the group said Atiku is a man who should be seen only in national light and not the mouth piece of selected persons.

The statement reads: “One is left wondering why Atiku is doing this. First, Atiku is not from Taraba. He is equally not a national official of the APC. So why is he fixated on Taraba and not any other state in our circumstances?

“Even if we say it is because Taraba and Adamawa used to be one state, one can’t still understand this latest meddlesomeness of the Turakin Adamawa. The only way to understand this is when it is viewed from the prism of the love tango between Aisha and Atiku.”

The statement further said “The whole world is now aware that Kyari cancelled most of the results to give Aisha an edge over Darius. The PDP candidate is however still currently leading with 53,000 votes in spite of the wicked cancellations in Donga, Wukari, Takum and Ussa”.

“We wish to let Atiku know that General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) got some votes in Taraba as a result of his personality and not because of any political clout of Aisha. It is also a well-known fact that Aisha prefers Atiku over Buhari. Truth is that she doesn’t even like Buhari and considers Atiku the better of the two. At the APC primaries, we know that it was Atiku she voted for”.

On the issue of security agents activities on election day, the statement said “It is not impressive that a former number two man in the country could make this kind of sad commentary on the state of mind of those we call leaders. What even makes Atiku think if he is entitled to some security details, these serving and ex-senators do not have the right too? What is more, are these senators in charge of the army or police? Do they in any way control their deployment and assignments?”

“In any case, what gives Atiku the impression that in places where the APC led such as Sardauna and Bali, there were no acts of violence? As a matter of fact, acts of thuggery and violence were prevalent in places were Aisha was said to have won. In Sardauna local government for instance, the residence of the SSG, Mr. Gebon Kataps was razed. Yet Kyari accepted the results. In Bali, someone lost his life. Yet Kyari saw nothing wrong with that. In fact, the election in the Southern part of the state was even more peaceful than what we had elsewhere”.

“Taraba people have already spoken loud and clear that it is Arc. Darius they want. Atiku must thus learn to respect the wishes of the Taraba people. Again, if Atiku is eyeing the presidency in 2019, Taraba should not be his launching base”, the statement added.