By Omezia Ajayi

ABUJA—Former Vice President and a chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC, Atiku Abubakar, has dismissed insinuations that he was queried by the leadership of his party over his recent call for the restructuring of the country.

In a statement issued by his Media Office in Abuja, yesterday, Atiku Abubakar noted that his visit to the party secretariat was not a response to summon by the leadership of the party as widely reported.

Atiku said: “My visit to the national secretariat of our great party was to rub minds with the party hierarchy, and it was of a routine kind as a chieftain of the party.

“I was neither summoned nor queried by the party on any issue as being speculated. Rather, my visit was at my own behest.

“As a party chieftain, I owe it a duty to my party to appraise challenges within the structures of the party and make suggestions on how to manage those challenges.

‘’I urge you all to discountenance any malicious insinuations about my visit to the party secretariat.”

A national paper (not Vanguard) had reported that the former vice president was summoned to the party secretariat to answer queries regarding his public calls for restructuring.

Vanguard recalls that Atiku Abubakar, was on Monday locked in an hour-long closed-door meeting with the leadership of his party, the All Progressives Congress APC, a move party insiders said was connected with the challenges facing the country and political permutations for 2019.