Former Vice-President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has accused former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, of promoting ethnic prejudice and peddling conspiracy theories.
Atiku said Lawal’s recent attacks on him were not backed by facts or evidence but were driven by ethnic profiling and inflammatory rhetoric.
In an issued statement issued yestetday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the most troubling part of Lawal’s comments was the attempt to link an entire ethnic group with the actions of criminal elements.
“It was both dangerous and irresponsible to suggest that any Nigerian should be judged, condemned, or held accountable for crimes committed by individuals simply because they share a common ancestry,” Atiku said.
He warned that such reasoning could worsen national division at a time Nigeria was already battling insecurity, economic hardship and political tension.
The former Vice-President also accused Lawal of contradicting himself in his public comments. He said Lawal had criticised him while also reportedly boasting that several governors were trying to bring him back into the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Atiku further accused Lawal of attempting to stigmatise the Fulani ethnic group despite serving under former President Muhammadu Buhari, who is also Fulani. He said Buhari appointed Lawal as SGF, the highest public office he had occupied.
Atiku rejected suggestions that he had been indifferent to victims of violence across the country. He said his record showed consistent solidarity with communities affected by terrorism, banditry, kidnappings and communal conflicts.
The ADC candidate said Lawal’s recent statements reflected bitterness and resentment, saying: “His heart appears full of bitterness, and his public utterances increasingly reflect anger rather than reason, grievance rather than evidence.
“While we do not share his hostility, we genuinely pity him. Politics should not reduce a man to a permanent state of outrage. Lawal would be better served by stepping away from the politics of hate and embracing the kind of reflection and personal healing that can restore perspective and balance. Nigeria needs statesmen, not merchants of bitterness”.
Atiku said Nigeria needed unity and healing, not ethnic or religious stereotyping.
The statement followed Lawal’s Facebook post titled: ‘Kachalla II’, in which he questioned Atiku’s character and competence and urged the ADC to replace him with another candidate.
