Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has been exonerated from a statement naming 30 corrupt people working for President Muhammadu Buhari. According to Gbenga Daniel, Director-General of the Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation and Deputy Chairman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (South), the statement was the personal opinion of Phrank Shaibu, Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communications — not that of Atiku himself. Speaking with journalists at the Abuja airport shortly before departing for a PDP presidential campaign rally in Owerri on Tuesday, Daniel described Atiku as “a statesman who is not in the habit of making unguarded and unsubstantiated claims about persons and institutions”. “The media probably got it wrong and simply elevated personal opinions to that of Atiku Abubakar. They simply cannot be the same,” he said. “Atiku believes in the rule of law, and would not accuse people wrongly especially if no competent court of law has found them guilty. That is what distinguishes Atiku Abubakar from the current APC government, which has elevated deceit and lies to such height in Statecraft.” Shaibu’s list of corrupt people working with Buhari contained names such as Bola Tinubu, former Lagos State …