The campaign council of Senator Bukola Saraki has dismissed a newspaper report that the former Senate President and some other presidential aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have stepped down for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
An online newspaper had on Monday, March 29, 2022 reported that the trio of Saraki, Governors Aminu Tambuwal and Bala Mohammed of Sokoto and Buachi states respectively, had stepped down for the former vice president, who is also a presidential hopeful on the platform of the PDP.
But in a statement Wednesday in Abuja, the Director-General of the Saraki Campaign Council, Earl Osaro Onaiwu, dismissed the report as “sheer mischief, and planted by those who want to gain the PDP presidential ticket by deceit.”
The statement reads; “Our attention has been called to an online newspaper that our candidate alongside their Excellencies Governors Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi states have stepped down for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for the PDP presidential ticket.
“The report is sheer mischief and planted by those who want to gain the PDP ticket by deceit. For clarity purposes, our candidate and three other aspirants met with Vice President Atiku on Monday with the sole objective to inform him of their push towards a consensus candidate for the party.
“At that meeting, there was no talk of any of the aspirants stepping down as it is yet premature. To therefore find a planted story smacks of desperation and ill-intention.
“For the avoidance of doubt, our candidate is eminently qualified for the PDP presidential as a former two-term governor, chairman of the Governors Forum, the most engaging and result-oriented Senate President and a former presidential aspirant.
