The Presidency has urged the All
Progressives Congress to leave
President Goodluck Jonathan alone and
not belittle his achievements by its
allegation that the President was in Lagos
to help rig the governorship elections for
the Peoples Democratic Party.
Speaking with state House
correspondents, Presidential spokesman,
Dr Reuben Abati said the allegation by Lai
Mohammed was a “lie and rude”.
“Lai Muhammed is wrong to say that the
President came to Lagos to rig the
Gubernatorial and State House of Assembly
elections scheduled for Saturday, April 11.
He is of course lying as usual. And rude.
President Jonathan visited Lagos. He
arrived on Thursday and left on Friday.
People visited him. So what? Anytime the
President is in Lagos or any part of the
country, a lot of people come to pay
homage to him. Nothing unusual happened
during his last visit to Lagos.
“Senator Musiliu Obanikoro’s visit to the
President in Lagos is not something that
anybody should use to play politics. Koro
is a Minister of the Federal Republic. He
came to see his boss.
“Mr. Jimi Agbaje is the Governorship
candidate of the PDP in Lagos. I don’t see
how his visit to the President, who is also
the leader of his party, the PDP, should
become an issue.
“Yes, Gani Adams also visited, but so did a
lot of other people.
“The President did not hold meetings with
INEC officials, he did not meet with the
police, or polling officials or with anybody
who is involved in organising elections. So
to say that the President went to Lagos to
supervise the rigging ofSaturday’s election
is most uncharitable and cruel.
“After the Presidential election, the
President immediately congratulated Gen.
Buhari and the whole world has
commended him for saving Nigeria.
President Jonathan’s sportsmanship,
statesmanship and leadership saved this
country at that critical moment. He has
demonstrated his commitment to free and
fair election, the rule of law and due
process. He has shown that he is a man of
character, honour and integrity. Nigerians
generally are proud of him. He has left a
worthy legacy and shown a great example.
That, obviously, is the narrative that Lai
Muhammed and his masters want to
change, so they are now cooking up
meaningless tales.
“Lai Muhammed should look for another
target and leave the President alone. His
fatuous tale does not make any sense. I
repeat: we will like to advise that the APC
should just leave the President alone.
President Jonathan was a candidate in the
presidential election; he did not rig the
election. Why would he want to
rig tomorrow’s elections?” He asked.
