THE Atiku Campaign Organisation alerted the nation, yesterday, of a plot to hang on Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his aides phantom coup allegation as part of the moves “to get rid of the Vice President at all costs.”

The organisation in a statement yesterday said: “The alarm (raised on Thursday by the presidency) is meant to serve as a pretext for the plot to round up Atiku’s aides and associates and charge them with plot to violently overthrow the government.
“The Atiku Campaign believes that it is ridiculous and laughable that those who control all the coercive apparatus of the state are accusing harmless individuals of threatening their lives. It could have only come from a mindset that is an incubator of phantom coup allegations.

“We, however, note the semblance of this allegation to the instructive historical recollection of President Obasanjo 24 hours earlier about the way the Supreme Military Council (SMC) dealt with the coup allegation against the late Gen. Iliya Bisala. This is, however, a sad development that inferences will be drawn from military coups in our march towards democracy.

“We call on Nigerians to be alert to this plot. The nation has passed this route before; we are back at the same tragic path again.
“Vice President Abubakar wishes to affirm to Nigerians that as someone who resisted all invitations to serve military regimes and who has been active in democratic struggles, he never and will never contemplate unconstitutional means of settling political differences. The current crisis will be resolved through the appropriate democratic institutions.

“His commitment to constitutionalism and rule of law is evident in his now familiar resort to Nigerian courts to resolve political disputes. He does not believe in violence or unconstitutional means to settle scores.

“The Vice President has asked all democrats to be vigilant and oppose any attempt to link him to a phantom coup plot as a cover for his elimination from the Nigerian political space. The phantom coup allegation appears to be the last option in (the) desperation to stop the Vice President from contesting the 2007 election.
“The Vice President remains convinced that only God and the Nigerian people will decide the next Nigerian president and not one egomaniac or a cabal.”

The VP should resign his post because it does not make sense to the the No 2 man in a setup that he constantly disagrees with.

Even though the presidency is doing all it can to get rid of him politcally (my personal opinion), it smacks of absolute greed and lust for power for the VP to continue to retain his position and still "fight" the institution that does not want him any longer.

While many do not approve of the tactics of the presidency, this do or die attitude of the VP will certainly make some people support the call for his removal.

Maybe when it is time to right the wrongs of these men, he will explain how he tried to sell Nigeria to his companies and that of his friends via the Privatization program.

Jacob Zulu of SA faced the same problem last year, was relieved of his position in a bid to destroy him politically, today he is free from all allegations as the supreme court dismissed the charges and acquitted him.

Desparation is dangerous and it seems the VP is ready to do anything to cling to power and "anything" may be at the detriment of Nigerians.

I only hope that one day all the public offices in Nigeria will be made unattractive to that only those that are willing and ready to serve will venture into the offices not what we have today where governance seems to be the business with the highest return on investments in Nigeria.

Afam i disagree with you totally, I have never been a supporter of Atiku and wont be, but we have to face the fact, Obj has no right under the constitution to remove him, only the national assembly, or if he resigns, the choice to resign lies solely with him, dont forget the problem is just Obj wont go next year, he is on revenge mission becuase people scutled his life presidency project and atiku is among the actors, what hes experiencing can happen to anyone, i am not talking about the corrupt charges, even at that he has defended himself by way of attack, and OBJ has not denied all he said, the who should resign according to your post, I answer both of them, if Obj wont then Atiku shouldnt.

Also if he has resigned the public will be denied the other side of story as no one will believe him even if he tendered his defence as some of dont now, also the case of South African President is quite different, the President has the power to remove his deputy there, and moreso the allegation wasnt politically motivated as Atiku made us to believe.

@Omofineboy,

What exactly do you disagree with me on?

I have not stated or even implied that OBJ should remove him so whether OBJ has the powers to do so is not my concern.

Considering the level of mistrust between the 2, it is my opinion that the VP resigns which is his own right. If the 2 cannot have a smooth relationship then one of them should leave the scene and I doubt if the president will leave the scene for the deputy.

We have seen similar scenarios in some states and the states are usually better off with one of the 2 leaving office and the 2nd in command usually leaves not the other way round.