Atiku Under Fire Over ‘No Vote, No Contracts’ Speech

Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, has came under fire  from the All Progressives Congress and the Social Democratic Party over remarks he made about voting for appointments in Abeokuta.

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Atiku stated during a town hall meeting with PDP stakeholders in Ogun State on Wednesday that party members must ensure the party wins in local voting units if they want to receive posts and contracts in his administration. 

According to the former vice president, the PDP can only prevail in the presidential race if its members work hard in all of their voting locations.

He was quoted to have said, “You are all members of the PDP and supporters of the PDP. You want the PDP to return to power; please, I beg of you, make sure you win your polling booths.

“The fact that you are following the governorship candidate or the senatorial candidate or the House of Representatives candidate or the presidential candidate to campaign is not a qualification that you will get an appointment.

“It is not a qualification that you will get a contract, whether at the local government level, state level, or federal level.”

Festus Keyamo (SAN), a spokesman for the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, responded to Atiku’s remarks by claiming that Atiku was already promising contracts to individuals while disobeying the Public Procurement Act.

Keyamo said, “A leopard cannot change its skin. He is already promising contracts to political allies, forgetting that there is a law called the Public Procurement Act.”

Rufus Ayenigba, the SDP’s spokesperson, also stated, “I will leave the decision to the electorate to determine what is best for them. All the leading candidates have relatable histories; there is nothing about Atiku and Tinubu that Nigerians don’t know. For us to move forward, everything is pointing in the direction of a new lease on life. The imperative of a fresh breath to sanitise the system cannot be overemphasised.”

Auwal Rafsanjani, the Transition Monitoring Group’s director, stated in the meantime: “There are legal frameworks guiding the appointment and issuance of contracts in Nigeria. Appointments in the civil service are made based on the federal character, for example, every state must have at least one minister, and the same is true of ambassadors.

“If he is referring to the appointment of aides, it is up to him to ensure that he moves the country forward without being accused of lopsidedness. It is in the best interest of the candidates to ensure that whatever they do is in line with the law.”