Nigeria Content Online

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.”