THE Presidency came hard on Tuesday on the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the February 23 presidential election Atiku Abubakar over the latter’s allegation that President Muhammadu Buhari plans to frame former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
It said the former vice president got it wrong by assuming that the one-time president could be framed by any other person more that he (Atiku) had done.
Atiku had on Monday declared that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was bent on framing Obasanjo to stop his criticism of the Buhari’s administration.
In a statement by his media office, Atiku also alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was feeding the media with falsehood to cause disaffection between him and Obasanjo on one hand, and between Obasanjo and Nigerians in general.
But a Presidency source told The Nation in confidence that Atiku had so much framed Obasanjo that nobody could beat his record.
The source said: “When Mr. Atiku Abubakar reflects on some of the things he said of President Obasanjo, he will realise that having framed the former President so well in the past, Obasanjo cannot anymore be framed by anyone, no matter how he tries.
“On the unresolved issue of the mismanagement of the Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF) under their government, Mr Atiku’s revelation before the Senate was that Obasanjo took N10 billion to kick-start his third term campaign.
“This is how the press captured it: ‘Abuja — The ill-fated third term agenda re-echoed yesterday in Abuja at the public sitting of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) when Vice President Atiku Abubakar alleged that President Olusegun Obasanjo approved the immediate release of N10 billion in the thick of the battle to push the agenda in the National Assembly.’”
Another source recalled what Atiku said about Obasanjo on the $16 billion spending on electricity, which he noted nothing to show.
The second source quoted Atiku as saying: “The issue of electricity is a thing that I feel very emotional about it, because I believe if we had handled the issue of electricity when we were in office by 2005 we would have provided enough electricity for the people of this country; but unfortunately we did not follow that route.