Jonathan: Lai rude to say I want to rig Lagos poll

President Goodluck Jonathan says Lai Mohammed, spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is rude to claim that he visited Lagos on Thursday to plan for the rigging of Saturday’s governorship election in the state in favour of Jimi Agbaje, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Jonathan noted that if he did not rig the March 28 presidential election in which he was a candidate, there was no way he would rig the governorship election.

“Lai Muhammed is wrong to say that the President came to Lagos to rig the governorship and State House of Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday, April 11. He is of course lying as usual. And rude,” Reuben Abati, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, said in a statemen issued in Abuja.

“President Jonathan visited Lagos. He arrived on Thursday and left on Friday. People visited him. So what? Anytime the President is in Lagos or any part of the country, a lot of people come to pay homage to him.

“Nothing unusual happened during his last visit to Lagos. Senator Musiliu Obanikoro’s visit to the President in Lagos is not something that anybody should use to play politics. Koro is a Minister of the Federal Republic. He came to see his boss.

“Mr. Jimi Agbaje is the governorship candidate of the PDP in Lagos. I don’t see how his visit to the President, who is also the leader of his party, the PDP, should become an issue. Yes, Gani Adams also visited, but so did a lot of other people.”

Abaiti recalled that after the presidential election, the president immediately congratulated Muhammadu Buhari, noting that “the whole world has commended him for saving Nigeria”.

“President Jonathan’s sportsmanship, statesmanship and leadership saved this country at that critical moment. He has demonstrated his commitment to free and fair election, the rule of law and due process. He has shown that he is a man of character, honour and integrity. Nigerians generally are proud of him,” he said.

“He has left a worthy legacy and shown a great example. That, obviously, is the narrative that Lai Muhammed and his masters want to change, so they are now cooking up meaningless tales.

“Lai Muhammed should look for another target and leave the President alone. His fatuous tale does not make any sense. I repeat: we will like to advise that the APC should just leave the President alone.

“President Jonathan was a candidate in the presidential election; he did not rig the election. Why would he want to rig tomorrow’s elections?”