It has come to our notice that someone who goes by the name Churchill Umoren, an aide to Doyin Okupe, Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs posted a material on the social media purporting that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has sealed a deal with leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola ceding the presidential ticket of APC to the former Vice President. This is not true and nothing can be further from the truth. That libelous and malicious report has since found its way on one of the online newspapers linked to Mr. Umoren.

And following media inquiries, we are compelled to state as follows:

1. That the publication in question is the handiwork of the Office of Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs acting out the script of his
   paymaster.
2. That Atiku Abubakar did not seal any deal with Tinubu; asked for no concession from the promoters of the APC and
   got none in return.
3. That the libelous and malicious publication is meant to cause disaffection among Atiku, Tinubu, Buhari and other leading
   lights of the APC.
4. That the public is hereby urged to discountenance that libelous and malicious report as it is only a figment of the imagination of hatchet staff linked to the Office of the Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs.

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