Blame INEC, Yourself, Others, Not Atiku – PDP Chieftain Fires Deji Adeyanju

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Oladimeji Fabiyi, has slammed political activist Prince Deji Adeyanju for blaming former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the 2023 presidential election.

Naija News reports that Adeyanju had called out Atiku Abubakar over the outcome of the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria.

According to him, arrogance, inadequate human relationships, inability to manage the opposition, and several lesser-known factors made Atiku, the PDP candidate, lose the 2023 polls.

Adeyanju, who made his view known in his New Year message, said if Atiku had managed the 2023 polls better, the results would have been different, and Nigeria would have a different President.

The activist berated Atiku for failing to work with the likes of Labour Party’s Peter Obi, New Nigeria People’s Party’s Rabiu Kwankwaso, and FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and the G5 which eventually paved the way for Tinubu’s victory.

But reacting in a statement on Thursday, Fabiyi disagreed with the role Adeyanju claimed Atiku played in Tinubu’s victory.

He stated that Adeyanju should instead blame himself and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

According to the PDP chieftain, INEC should be blamed for failing to comply with its self-imposed regulations to conduct a credible, free, and fair election in Nigeria.

His statement read: “I am constrained to disagree with you on your submission about the outcome of the 2023 presidential election and your uncharitable conclusion about the role played by Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the PDP in the election.

“It was most unkind of you to presume that Atiku could have willfully stopped the ambition of Peter Obi alongside the decision of the Wike led G-5 to commit class suicide.

“The political reality of the 2023 election meant that these men were bent on pursuing their ambitions, which is permissible by the law. If you knew Atiku’s political antecedents, you would know that Atiku is a multi-party democrat and would be the last person to stop the ambition of an opponent for any reason whatsoever.

“Should any blame be passed on the 2023 Presidential Election, such blame should go to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its failure to comply with its self-imposed regulations to conduct a credible, free and fair election in Nigeria.

“Quite a number of civil society organizations and personalities, including even you, Deji Adeyanju, canvassed for the electronic transmission of results. Curiously INEC did not keep to its words, and you here, Deji and others kept mute about the anomaly and chose to blame the opposition political figures for inadequacies that defined the 2023 presidential election.

“INEC made a humongous budget for the procurement of technologies and the infrastructure to ensure the transparency of the election, but the commission failed woefully on its own mandate.

“Civil society bodies, which ordinarily ought to be the bastion of democratic good governance, unconscionably played deaf and dumb to the development and turned their backs on the decision of the Court of Appeal when it pronounced that electronic voting was not a compulsory mandate on the conduct and collation of election results.

“Rather, unfortunately also no one heard your voice, Deji, when the Chicago State University released its discoveries that the truth that Bola A. Tinubu forged his academic credentials. Atiku’s lawyers fought vigorously to make discoveries of gross misconduct about the man who had just been elected President of Nigeria, but sadly, neither you Deji, nor any other civil society organization, caused a protest in demand for investigation into Tinubu’s fraudulent claims on his education and his possible impeachment.

“Leave Atiku Abubakar from your blame game and rather look through thyself for the blame.

“How dare you blame Atiku who did the unthinkable and brought to the fore what the ruling establishment would want hidden? Whose interest are you serving? Whatever interest it may be, I believe that it is the interest of anti-democratic elements.”