Atiku Abubakar, former vice president, says that without his backing, President Bola Tinubu’s time as Lagos’ governor would have been difficult.
Recall that President Tinubu was Lagos governor between 1999 and 2007.
Atiku made this known when reacting to a statement made by Vice-President Kashim Shettima on Thursday.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti, the state capital of Ekiti, Shettima said that Tinubu had supported three northern candidates for the same seat prior to his presidential run, including Atiku, who ran in 2007 under the banner of the Action Congress (AC).
At the time, Tinubu was a party chieftain.
Atiku’s spokesperson, Paul Ibe, responded to Shettima’s remarks by saying Tinubu was unable to provide Atiku the party’s platform in 2007.
He continued by saying that all of the party’s delegates from across the nation had nominated Atiku for president.
“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,” he said.
“For some time, and especially leading up to the 2023 election, there has been a deliberate attempt to distort the history of the politics of the early 4th Republic by ascribing the AC, the political platform that Atiku ran in 2007, as Tinubu’s party. Nothing can be further from the truth. Vice President Shettima, obviously carried away with the euphoria of the unveiling of his official residence as Vice President, repeated the same lie.
“Moreover, 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.
“It will be appropriate for Vice President Shettima to refrain from making statements on subject matters on which he knows little or nothing about.”
