…Atiku wants to protect thugs – Oshiomhole

The National Chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has likened the reaction of the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to the directive to security operatives by President Muhammadu Buhari on how to deal with ballot box snatchers to an attempt to protect thugs and set the country on fire.

Oshiomhole, who spoke yesterday with journalists at his private office on Aso Drive, Abuja, mocked Atiku for saying that the ruling party imported smart card readers from China to be deployed in certain parts of the country.

He said, “There is no responsible candidate down to the House of Assembly who will find fault in any pronouncement that seeks to discourage thuggery in the coming elections. So, for a man who is aspiring to preside over a country like Nigeria to seek protection for thuggery, to seek cover for thuggery, even as he has already said he would grant amnesty to looters, I do not think Nigerians have any basis to doubt that Atiku Abubakar’s mission is to set Nigeria on fire just so that he can become president even if he will preside over a graveyard.”

According to Oshiomhole, “only those who rely on thuggery can find fault with the president’s directive,” he said.

On the card reader allegation, Oshiomhole said, “We are not like stammerers who look for a fight because they cannot win an argument. Assuming, without conceding that it is true, it means Atiku is working hand in hand with the ICT unit in INEC to know the kind of card readers that are deployed to a location.

“INEC being independent as it is, I am not in a position to determine where the card readers would be deployed or where they were imported from,” he said.