The ruling All Progressives Congress, on Thursday, debunked the allegation made by Labour Party National Chairman, Julius Abure, that President Bola Tinubu may come after its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and other chieftains after his victory at the Supreme Court.
Abure had raised the alarm hours after the apex court on Thursday dismissed Obi’s appeals, and his Peoples Democratic Party counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, and affirmed Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential poll.
Abure claimed that under Tinubu, the country might be heading in the direction of dictatorship, alleging that he had intelligence that the President had perfected plans to go after the opposition.
“It is pertinent to put on record that we have it on very good authority that the government may have marked some Labour Party’s key leaders, myself especially and our leader and presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, in particular for vilification, in order to suppress the party, suffocate our team, and our goal of a new Nigeria. The planned persecution, intimidation, suppression and harassment of our leaders using security agencies and all other government institutions will be definitely defended.
“We are therefore calling on all our members and the Obidient family to be vigilant and brace up for the challenges ahead. The struggle for a new Nigeria will certainly be tortuous and hard,” Abure said.
But reacting the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Duro Meseko, told The PUNCH that there was no iota of truth in the claim.
While describing the alarm as mischievous, Meseko said, “It is not true. Virtually everybody in Nigeria knows President Tinubu is not that kind of person. In fact, some of the people in Tinubu’s government today like the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, were among those insulting him and all that. Yet, he still brought them on board. That’s for you to know the kind of heart he has.
“It is therefore satanic and mischievous for the Labour Party and some other critics to still be nursing such thought about the President. As a statesman, the President has done his best over time to bring everybody. That is also reflected in his government of national unity.
“Even this so-called Labour Party was invited on board. But most of their people were busy criticising him, saying he wanted to put their people in government so the party won’t pursue their case in court again and all that. I am saying this confidently that there is no iota of truth in what the LP chairman is saying.”
