The Federal Government, yesterday, admonished the People’s Democratic Party’s Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to stop overheating the polity, with purported self help moves after losing the February presidential election.

Government issued the warning in Abuja, at a press conference addressed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Garba Shehu.

The minister was reacting to posters bearing the picture of Atiku with the inscription: “The Pukka, H.E. Atiku Abubakar, The real and the right,” pasted across major streets in Abuja.

“…He should realise that Nigeria is not Venezuela, and that the situations in both countries are not the same.

“The posters and the hiring of US lobbyists, the latest of such by the PDP candidate, have triggered questions about what Alhaji Abubakar is up to.

“Is Atiku starting a fresh campaign after the elections have been won and lost?

“Has he rescinded his decision to challenge the results of the presidential election in court, perhaps after realising that the results he claimed to have obtained from the INEC-back server are cooked?

“As a self-avowed democrat, he should realise that the only lawful channel for challenging the result of an election is through the courts. A resort to self-help, as he seems to be doing now, is an act of desperation and the consequences are dire,” Mohammed said.

The minister reiterated that Buhari won the February 23 presidential election with a margin of 3,928,869 votes and that the election’s credibility was attested to by local and foreign observers. He said the president’s victory was well-deserved and represented the triumph of the ordinary Nigerians over the elite.

“The election is a direct contest between ordinary Nigerians and the elite, most of whom are rent seekers. Of course, the ordinary Nigerians have won.

“This is not a surprise, considering the pro-poor policy of the administration. Despite the antics of the naysayers, Nigerians demonstrated that they appreciate the giant strides that have been made by the administration, whether in the areas of economy, fight against corruption or in tackling insecurity.

“This is a government that has done so much with less in restoring decency and integrity to governance,” he said.

Also quoting the New York Times, the minister said the “re-election of president Buhari is a referendum on honesty.”

He added  that the policies of the Administration endeared Buhari to the ordinary Nigerians.

The minister noted that although Atiku has the right to do whatever is lawful to challenge the outcome of the election, but, he must not go through the back door.

“If he believes hiring a foreign lobbying firm will advance his quest, we wish him the best of luck. But, seeking US recognition as the winner of an election that he lost by almost 4 million votes is unconscionable.”

The minister recalled that after the result of the presidential election was announced, the US joined other countries to congratulate Buhari.