Paul Ibe, a Media Adviser to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has rubbished the vote-counting process of the just-concluded presidential primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The primary election produced President Bola Tinubu as the APC’s presidential flagbearer for the 2027 election.

Reacting, Atiku’s aide stated that the vote-counting produced inflated votes as part of a rigging strategy. He said this while praising the ongoing African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential primary election.

Ibe shared on X, “The ADC leads in properly counting the votes at its ongoing nationwide presidential primaries when compared to the abracadabra vote count of the ruling APC, which produced inflated votes that are a dress rehearsal to seek for its rigging strategy. The difference is clear between the Democrats and the Communists.”

A few days ago, Atiku condemned in the strongest possible terms the abduction of schoolchildren and educators in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, and the brutal killing of innocent Nigerians in Katsina State, including a pregnant woman, describing the tragedies as further proof that Nigeria is bleeding under a government that has reduced leadership to post-tragedy press statements.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said he was particularly heartbroken by the news of the gruesome murder of one of the teachers abducted in the Ogbomoso kidnapping incident, describing the continued bloodshed across the country as not merely a breakdown of security, but a frightening collapse of leadership at the highest level.

“At a time when armed criminals are abducting schoolchildren, slaughtering innocent citizens, and turning communities into graveyards, President Tinubu’s response remains the same tired ritual: condemn the killings, threaten that the perpetrators will face the ‘full wrath of the law,’ and then wait for the next massacre.

“Nigerians have heard this script too many times. It has become painfully predictable and utterly meaningless.

“President Tinubu must stop governing by obituary statements.

“Enough of the recycled outrage. Enough of the empty threats. Nigerians are dying, and this government keeps responding with press releases,” he said. (Guardian)