I saved Tinubu’s political career, Atiku replies Shettima

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, has told Vice President Kashim Shettima that without his support to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his political career would have ended as governor of Lagos State.

Speaking at the 3rd Expanded National MSMES Clinics, Ekiti 2024 held in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital last Thursday, Shettima said President Tinubu had been a great supporter of northerners in their quest for political attainment, describing him as a man who has shown commitment to the wellbeing of Nigerians.

The vice president said, “He has been a very veritable sanctuary for victims of political witch hunts. When Atiku Abubakar was harassed, intimidated, dehumanised and chased out of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), it was the Bourdilion that he ran to for support and it was in Bourdilion that he got the needed support and he contested for the presidency of this country.”

But reacting in a statement by his media adviser, Mr Paul Ibe yesterday, Atiku noted that Shettima goofed when he claimed that Atiku benefitted from Tinubu’s goodwill when he was being persecuted in the PDP.

He stated, “Truth be told, it was Tinubu that actually benefitted immensely from Atiku’s goodwill. But for Atiku’s support, hinged on his pro-democracy instincts and rule of law, Tinubu’s tenure as governor of Lagos would have been rough with a wide possibility of termination of his political career.

“For some time, and especially leading up to the 2023 elections, there had been a deliberate attempt to distort the history of the politics of the early Fourth Republic by ascribing the Action Congress (AC), the political platform that Atiku ran in 2007 as Tinubu’s party.

“Nothing can be further from the truth. Vice President Shettima is obviously carried away with the euphoria of the unveiling of his official residence.

“Shettima needs to be reminded that Atiku did not run under the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) but Action Congress (AC), which came out of a coalition of Advance Congress of Democrats (ACD), formed by mainly PDM members and other associates and Tinubu’s faction of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).”

According to the statement, Tinubu was not in a position to lend the platform to Atiku “as erroneously being suggested, as he (Atiku) was nominated by all the delegates from all the states.”

The statement listed the delegates to the primary election that threw up Atiku as the party’s presidential candidate to include Lawal Keita, Amb Yahaya Kwande, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, Alexis Anielo, Titi Ajanaku, former Governor Rasheed Ladoja, Chief Tom Ikimi and Chief Dapo Sarumi.

Others were Chief Sergeant Awuse, Alhaji Lawan, Dr Chris Ngige, Prof Ango Abdulahi, Dr Farouk Abdul Azeez, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Chief Ejiofor Onyia and Dr Iyorchia Ayu etc.

He added that from Tinubu’s Alliance for Democracy were Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief Segun Osoba, Chief Adebayo Adefarati and Chief Bisi Akande, among others.