I won’t withdraw my petition against Yar’Adua - Atiku

Idowu Samuel, Abuja - 11.12.2007

FORMER vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has said he has been insisting on pursuing his petition against the victory of President Umaru Yar’Adua in the April presidential poll, to avoid disappointing his late mentor, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua.

Atiku said his rigid stance on the petition was in line with the political philosophy which he said he inherited from his late political godfather.

He said the former second-in-command during the military regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo would have been utterly disappointed if he had failed to take up the challenge of exposing the ills that allegedly characterised the last April polls in Nigeria.

The Turakin Adamawa made this known in his message to the 10th memorial anniversary of General Yar’Adua made available to the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja on Monday.

The message by Atiku is, however, to disabuse the minds of his supporters on the view they have reportedly been holding about his last meeting with President Yar’Adua.

He said contrary to general impression, his meeting with President Yar’Adua last week did not necessitate the withdrawal of his petition from the election tribunal

Atiku said he had learnt the art of political activism from his late mentor and hence could not afford to disappoint him in fighting against perceived political injustice, which he said the last general election in April this year portrayed.

He said the late Tafidan Katsina believed in a political system that ran without fraud, noting that the elder brother of President Yar’Adua hated injustice with passion and always loved to fight against it.

Atiku said General Yar’Adua would have taken the same measure he has been taking against the outcome of the April polls were he to be alive.

The statement made on Atiku’s behalf by his media consultant, Mallam Garba Shehu, read in part, “Yar’Adua would have done what I am doing today if he were to be alive. He hated injustice with passion and he would have fought the injustice that characterised the April polls to a standstill.

“The late Yar’Adua would also have gone to court if he were to be in my shoes and would have supported me with every energy and resources to ensure that the fraud in the last elections in Nigeria were not only exposed but corrected.”