Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, said he has no intention of retiring from partisan politics at the moment.

Atiku, in a statement issued by his media office, said the information circulating on social media about a purported meeting with stakeholders of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), in which he allegedly decided to “step aside and retire from active politics,” is entirely false and deliberately misleading.

Atiku, a 2023 presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), denied holding any such meeting in recent times with stakeholders at the national level.

“The only recent engagement he had was with stakeholders of the ADC in Adamawa State last Thursday,” the statement added.

According to the statement, an issue “as fundamental and consequential as exiting active politics cannot, and would never, be communicated through rumours, faceless sources, or third-party fabrication.

“Such a decision, if ever taken, would be formally conveyed through the Atiku Media Office.”

Atiku blamed the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for trying to create confusion in the opposition coalition to dampen momentum and mislead the Nigerian public.

“Only the government and its agents could have sponsored this desperate narrative out of fear of what is coming.

“We state without equivocation that this mischief is being driven by anti-democratic elements who are deeply unsettled by the growing national consensus to rescue Nigeria from the failures of the current administration,” he said.

The former vice president urged members of the ADC and all well-meaning Nigerians to disregard the fake news in its entirety and remain focused on the collective effort to reclaim and rebuild the nation.