‘Former Vice President and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar, has dismissed the insinuation that he and the current leadership of the National Assembly maybe working in concert on a hidden agenda to actualise their 2019 presidential ambition.

In a statement released by his media office on Sunday, which was signed by Mazi Paul Ibe, the former vice president urged all party men to accept what happened in the National Assembly as mere interplay of politics in the interest of the system and the party.

Following the crisis that erupted in the party after the recent election of principal officers of the National Assembly which pitted one group of APC senators and House of Representatives against the other, there were insinuations that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, might have emerged with the backing of Atiku.

However, according to the statement, Atiku exonerated himself from the purported hijack of the party and the National Assembly towards 2019 as figment of the imagination of those promoting it, and asked Nigerians to ignore such insinuation.

According to Atiku, the recent outcomes of the National Assembly elections, contrary to insinuations, are products of interplay of politics which is itself in constant motion.

“In politics, it is a mistake to expect fixed outcomes. As the president has done, let’s all come to terms with what has happened in the interest of the system and move on.

“Suffice it to say that the new administration should be allowed a smooth takeoff and atmosphere to deliver on promises. On this, I stand with President Muhammadu Buhari,” Atiku said.

While restating his unalloyed commitment to the Buhari administration, Atiku pledged to back this commitment with all of the assets at his disposal.

“Not only did Atiku Abubakar congratulate Buhari after his emergence as the presidential candidate of the APC at the party’s national convention in Lagos, he also handed over his best assets to the Buhari presidential campaign. The former vice president enthusiastically handled the diplomatic assignment of seeking endorsement for Dr. Akinwumi Adesina as the President of the African Development Bank on behalf of President Buhari and would be available for any other assignments as the president pleases.

“Make no mistake about it, Atiku holds Buhari in the highest esteem, and would always remain loyal to him, and support him in every endeavour to succeed as president,” the statement said.

The APC chieftain also called on Nigerians and APC members to take a lead in their undiluted support of his administration.

“We, the members of the president’s own family need to lead in this direction for others to follow for the good of our nation and its peoples,” he added.

Atiku also denounced the increasing determination of some people to draw a wedge between Buhari and himself.

He stated that: “It has become crystal clear even to the blind that the motives of these hatchet men who are desperate to take every available newspaper space is to insult, vilify and calumniate the former vice president.

“We cannot allow liars, denigrators, blackmailers and their sponsors to use Atiku as platform to ingratiate themselves with President Buhari and hijack his presidency under the pretext of loving him more than anyone else.

“These political ventriloquists are hiding behind the cover of anonymity to achieve their sinister agenda of making Atiku the fall guy in the unfolding political developments.”

He said it was dangerous for any individual or group in the ranks of the ruling party to constitute themselves into an opposition even before the constitution and take off President Buhari’s government.

Against the backdrop of developments in the polity, Atiku said the leadership tussle in the National ‘Assembly is interplay of forces and interests that are dynamic, which must not be promoted to the point of being a threat to Nigerian democracy and the new administration.

While acknowledging that it is legitimate and desirable for individuals or groups to seek or pursue their interest, “it must be done with the benefit of sustaining our democracy and promoting equity, fair play and justice in mind.

“Anything to the contrary may jeopardise our hard-earned democracy and constitute a clog in the wheel of the new administration.”