Presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has approached a High Court in Federal Capital Territory, asking it to bar President Muhammadu Buhari and security agencies in the country from interfering with the general election.
Atiku further asked the court to compel Buhari to pay him damages in the aggregate sum of N2 billion, as well as tender a public apology to him, for sponsoring frivolous suits against him.
understands that the demands were contained in a counter-claim the PDP presidential candidate filed in response to a N40 million libel suit the Buhari Campaign Organisation, BCO, slammed against him over an allegation that he defamed Buhari and his
The BCO had in its suit marked FCT/HC/CV/804/2019, accused Atiku and his aide, Mr. Phrank Shaibu, of making several defamatory statement in the media, to the effect that Buhari used his position as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and head of the government to fraudulently acquire two private companies, Keystone Bank Plc and 9Mobile Communication Ltd for himself, his family members, and friend
Meanwhile, Atiku, in a counter-claim filed through his lawyer, Mr. Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume, SAN, challenged the competence of the suit he said was highly frivolous.
He applied for an order mandating that the N2 billion damages to be paid by President Buhari and the BCO, be sent to all the camps of Internally Displaced People, IDPs, across the country and for equipment of libraries and information technology equipment for all state universities in Nigeria.
More so, Atiku, sought an order, “mandating President Buhari and his agents, including security operatives and officers to abide by the rule of law and the principle of separation of powers entrenched in the constitution and should not intervene in the forthcoming elections.”
In a 56-paragraphed witness statement on oath deposed to by one Abraham Udoh, the PDP presidential flag-bearer told the court that President Buhari had failed Nigerians by his inability as a President to stop ruthless and wanton killings across the country.
He said the killings and destruction had rendered citizens, farmers, women and children homeless without food or basic amenities of life, as well as led to the emergence of various IDP camps in the country.
