Former Vice President and presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party  (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has asked Nigerians to discountenance the claims of political soothsayers that vacancy does not exists in Aso Rock as a brand new President will emerge by May 29, 2011.

 Also, he described the former Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony  Anenih as a political “dead duck” struggling for relevance.According to a statement by the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation in Abuja reacting to Anenih’s declaration in Benin that there is no vacancy in Aso Rock in 2011, the former Vice President said the former PDP BoT Chairman is no longer taken seriously because of his antecedents.“Nigerians should be wary of the utterances of Anenih. The sovereignty lies with the people and not with Anenih. He does not have the mandate to speak on behalf of the people who are yet to cast their votes in the 2011 elections,” it said.

It said “No Vacancy” was the same battle cry Anenih used to win favour with the late Gen. Sani Abacha, former President Obasanjo and now Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is his latest victim in his desperation to reclaim relevance.

It wondered how Anenih who has no political space in his home state in Edo State because of his widespread unpopularity, can now promise the Presidency to someone else. 

Describing Anenih as a drag on Nigerian democracy, the Campaign said it is ridiculous to describe the presidency not vacant when the President himself has  pledged to conduct free and fair elections.“If indeed, the Presidency is not vacant, then there is no reason to conduct a presidential election in 2011 because the winner is already known according to Anenih’s odd theory of democracy,” the Campaign stated.

It warned President Jonathan to distance himself from Anenih and his ilk or risk losing credibility in his avowed commitment to free and fair elections in 2011.According to the Campaign, Anenih has no iota of credibility in the political life of Nigeria because of his infamous records of treachery, rigging and  dishonor. 

Describing Anenih as “an unstable politician,” it recalled how Anenih abandoned the late Chief MKO Abiola to his fate after late General Sani Abacha took over in November 1993. 

“As the Chairman of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) on which platform Abiola contested the election, he (Anenih) chickened out rather than fighting like a man to defend Abiola’s mandate,” the Campaign noted.

“He was an opportunist who fixed an appointment for himself with the late  Abacha military regime while Abiola was languishing in jail.

“And while serving the Abacha administration, he became a major political consultant for the actualization of the General Abacha’s self-succession agenda,” the statement added.

He took his anti-democratic tendencies to a new low in justifying the hanging of the late Ogoni activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others when he granted an interview to the BBC in 1997 during the Commonwealth Summit in Scotland.

Mr. Anenih, who described himself as an observer during the interview because Nigeria was under suspension at the time, maintained that, the Ogoni activists were duly convicted by the Abacha government.It accused Anenih of being the brain behind the failed bid for life presidency by former President Obasanjo.

“It was the same Tony Anenih that declared that Aso Rock was not vacant because of plan to cause massive rigging and destroy voter sovereignty. Outside rigging,for which he is a notorious expert, Anenih cannot win a vote anywhere.