by Kolapo Olapoju

The Presidency has rubbished some of the recent claims of the All Progressives Congress saying that the party is especially gifted in the art of noise-making and deception.

The Special Adviser to the President, Dr. Reuben Abati, stated that allegations of the APC were baseless, meaningless and false, adding that the party had stepped up its level of propaganda with the recent absence of its presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.

In an interview with Punch, the Presidency reacted to the allegations of the APC that President Goodluck Jonathan intends to further postpone the polls; that he is scheming to force out the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Attahiru Jega, as well as purported plans to freeze the accounts of Bola Tinubu and Rotimi Amaechi.

Speaking on the alleged plan to further postpone the elections, Abati said: “Anybody who has been listening to news will see that the President has consistently said he does not see any reason why the polls will be shifted again.

“He has consistently assured the international community that government has no intention whatsoever to shift the polls because the date of the inauguration of a new government is May 29 and that that day is sacrosanct. Whatever postponement that has taken place is within the frame of the law and it is constitutional. The law gives a timeframe to hold elections.”

Regarding the plan to remove Jega from his role, he stated that the INEC Chairman had not committed any offence that could warrant his sack.

Abati said: “The President himself has addressed this categorically that he has never at any time discussed the issue with anybody that he wants to sack Jega.”

“He said before you can remove anybody, you have to first establish that the person has committed an offence and that there is nothing before him to indicate that Jega has committed any offence.”

“The APC, because its key spokespersons seem to have talent for noise making, keep insisting that there are plans to remove Jega. The question to be asked is if there is something they know that we do not know. Is there something between them and Jega that they are so desperate?”

“What it means is that at the end of the day, we do not expect that the APC will turn around and say they have no faith in the outcome of the election or that Jega did not conduct the election very well.”

“The way they are packaging Jega, you will think he is even a member of their party. I hope that when eventually they lose the election, they will be honest enough to accept the outcome.”

Furthermore, he described as a senseless claim that Jonathan intends to freeze the accounts of a national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State.

The presidential spokesman said: “That allegation is a no brainer because people like making unintelligent comments as if they never went to school. The President cannot just stand up and say he is freezing somebody’s account.”

“When people’s accounts are frozen, it is because may be they have been indicted and a court of law has given an order to that effect. No one individual, no matter how powerful he is, can just wake up and say he is freezing somebody’s account.”

“I am surprised that anybody will take them serious on this. If they keep saying it despite the emptiness of the claim, then it again proves the point of their desperation.”