Northern leaders refute reports on consensus

 Atiku Abubakar

The Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) on Thursday refuted reports claiming that its consensus candidate, Atiku Abubakar, beat former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, by a single vote.The rebuttal was contained in a press released by the forum’s secretary, Bello Sabo Abdulkadir.

Mr. Abdulkadir said the report cannot be true because he was the only non- member of the NPLF present at the voting and that none of the reporters spoke to him.

 

“Unknown to the peddlers of this false report, I, Bello Sabo Abdulkadir, Secretary to the consensus Committee was the only person present, who was not a member of the committee,when the voting to choose the consensus candidate took place. Yet, even I have no idea which member of the Committee voted for which candidate simply because the voting was by secret ballot and no member volunteered any information to that effect,” he said, adding that “the forum would have totally ignored the report if the report did not also attribute its story to ‘a source, who witnessed the vote.”

He said the report in question failed tenets of journalism in the sense that none of the reporters spoke to him or to any member of the consensus committee. “As a matter of fact, each member of the committee has assured me that they have never met with any of the reporters nor spoken to any since the conclusion of the process. How then did the reporters come about their vote count, not to talk of matching votes and voters to specific candidates? The report is, to say the least, highly irresponsible and regrettable,” the statement said.

He also apologised to “all whose hard earned reputation the report seeks to tarnish, especially the aspirants who submitted themselves to the consensus process.”

Source: /234next.com