Atiku fingers Buhari administration in US ‘centre’ report indicting him for insecurity

Following a report by a US-based organisation, Centre for Diplomacy and Democracy that he is behind the spate of killings in the country, former Vice President and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has accused the Muhammadu Buhari administration of the “contrived report by a fictitious non-governmental organization in the United States”.
A statement by his media aide, Mr. Paul Ibe, described the report as “the deepest low that (the administration) has gone in causing further division and promoting instability in Nigeria.
The centre in the report signed by Catherine Kerigun said the game plan was to make President Muhammadu Buhari seem incapable of handling the security challenges in the country ahead of his inauguration and in order to attract a revolt against the government of that country.
But in his reaction by his aide, Atiku said, “Anyone versed enough in the protocol of international NGOs will discern without much ado that the particular report by a faceless, insipid organization known as ‘Centre for Diplomacy and Democracy’ was contrived with express mobilization from officials of the Buhari administration in a shameless and disingenuous attempt to find a jejune explanation for the rising rate of insecurity in Nigeria.
He adds: “Our investigations has revealed that there is no such report as being touted and no such body called ‘Centre for Diplomacy and Democracy’. Americans will never write ‘Centre’. They will write ‘Center’ in conformity to the American English usage.
“It is so distasteful that the Buhari administration, rather than have a self-introspection and admit to the world that its policies and actions are responsible for the divisions in the country, with manifestation of all manner of crimes such as banditry, kidnapping and wanton killings across the land, chooses to employ the service of a faceless NGO to blame the opposition for its own ineptitude”.
The report, which tallies with an alarm by the Nigerian Army also said that Atiku Abubakar planned to truncate the swearing in of President Muhammadu Buhari come May 29, 2019 and has paid $30,000 to Fein & DelValle PLLC, a US firm in March to carry out the dirty deal.
The contentious report reads in part: “The rising wave of insecurity in Nigeria became a cause for concern despite concerted efforts of the country’s security agencies. Daily, Gestapo-like criminal activities spring up in various parts of the country that suggest that it might be politically masterminded because of the timing, target and ultimate victims of such organized crime aimed to cause untold embarrassment to the country.
“Consequently, the Centre for Diplomacy and Democracy, Washington DC, USA, undertook a systematic research on the major issues that shaped the 2019 general elections, vis-a-vis actions of political parties and political actors that were capable of heating the polity and its consequences after the polls, with a view to unravelling the mystery behind the sustained security challenges in Nigeria.
“The findings are mind-boggling as it unraveled a whole lot of pointers that indicate that the security challenges experienced in Nigeria are politically motivated and masterminded.
“The 2019 general elections in Nigeria was regarded as one of the most fiercely contested in the annals of the country. The incumbent President,  Muhammadu Buhari and the main opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar were locked in a fierce contest for the votes of the electorates. And in the process, promises were made, as well as threats as regards to the outcome of the poll.
“The bulk of the threats were made by the opposition party candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and groups sympathetic to him, who carried on as he had already won the elections before the commencement of the polls.
“In the build-up to the elections, armed rebels from Nigeria’s oil-rich southern Niger Delta region (Niger-Delta Avengers) vowed to cripple the country’s economy if President Muhammadu Buhari was re-elected. The militant group said its preferred candidate was the main opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar….
In a report monitored on several newspapers in Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar had expressly stated that killings by herdsmen would continue if he loses the elections.
“The presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, stated that the killings by herdsmen would continue and ultimately spark series of ethno-religious crises that would be irreversible if Nigerians do not vote out the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019 elections.”
“From the statements gathered, it is sufficient to link the threats made by Atiku Abubakar with the renewed security challenges in Nigeria. The repeated attacks by armed bandits, killer herdsmen all points to one direction, which is the fact that he lost the presidential election and indeed gone to court to contest the outcome of the election with a claim to having access to the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“Information gathered from impeccable sources indicates that it could not have been a coincidence that upon issuing such threats, before the elections, and after the elections, activities of herdsmen and armed bandits have increased tremendously.
“There are several pointers to the fact that making the country ungovernable is a game plan of Atiku Abubakar who enjoys some level of support from some rebel groups in Cameroon by infiltration of some Nigerian communities and inflicting maximum damage to these communities….”
But in the statement by his media aide, Atiku reminded President Buhari that the buck stops on his table on the insecurity in the country adding that “his infantile style of looking for whom to blame for his failures will not obliterate his abysmal record of performance in the past four years”.
He adds: “The Buhari administration and the ruling APC are renowned for propaganda stunt and double-speak. Sadly, it does not matter to them the disturbing number of criminalities happening on daily basis in Nigeria. In their warped thinking, the performance rate of security chiefs during times like this is determined on how much weight the Inspector General of Police has lost. The question to ask is: how would the APC have reproved a president who makes such careless remarks on national security at a time when insecurity in the country has assumed epidemic proportions?
“President Buhari and the APC have shown without equivocation that the job at hand is overwhelming for them. And because they lack the basic clue of how to tame the bogey that they have created, they now scamper around like school kids who have caused an upset in a highly sensitive science laboratory.
“Nigerians don’t pray for a president who passes the buck. All they want is a president who can hold the bull at the horn and get the job done. After all, President Buhari took an oath to defend lives and property of the citizens, which is the primary responsibility of every government”.