Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has described as malicious, a report that he was set to defect from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.
The alleged move to defect, the report said, to enable him the presidential ticket of the party.
But in a statement issued by his media office, Atiku said the report was false.
He said he remained one of the leading presidential aspirants on the platform of the PDP
The denial reads: “For the avoidance of any doubt, Atiku remains the frontline aspirant for the presidential ticket of the PDP.
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“In the past two months, Abubakar has moved across states in the country consulting with stakeholders of the PDP and explaining to them his agenda encapsulated in the acronym JOBS (Jobs, Opportunity, Being united and Security) for Nigeria.
“The nationwide consultations continue this week with visits to the South West, North West and North Central zones of the country…
“To assume that he will abandon the hard work he has done with the positive results he is getting from the stakeholders of the party is to say the least preposterous and unthinkable.
“The campaign office called on supporters of Atiku to remain steadfast and see the contrived news of defection as an attempt to distract it from the set task of winning the PDP ticket and the 2019 presidential election by the grace of God.”