The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has said that former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar demeaned himself, office by pandering to base prejudice at a moment Nigeria needs true leadership.
Tinubu, who was reacting to an interview, where Atiku claimed that he parted ways with the former Lagos state governor over his insistence to be his running mate in 2007 general election.
Atiku in the interview noted that Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket was the bane of his “fundamental disagreement” with Tinubu
“My fundamental disagreement and political departure with Asiwaju [Tinubu] since 2007 was due to the Muslim-Muslim ticket. Remember, I opted out of PDP because of zoning, and together with Asiwaju we formed ACN.
“Tinubu wanted to be my running mate when I was given the ACN presidential ticket in 2007, but I disagreed. And because of that, he switched his support to the late Umar Yaradua. That was the parting point,” he had said.
However, Tinubu in a statement by his media aide, Tunde Rahman refuted the claim, insisting that Atiku offered him the vice presidential ticket in 2007.
“Let me say openly that Atiku offered me the vice presidential ticket in 2007. Let me also say that my religion has not changed. When he offered the position to me, I was a Muslim and I believe he was aware of my religious faith at the time,” he said
Tinubu noted that all Nigerians should feel great pity and sadness for Atiku, whom he alleged of stoking religious bias and uttering baseless lies on national television in his attempt to win the 2023 election.
However, Tinubu didn’t disclose if he rejected the ticket or Atiku withdrew the offer as Senator Ben Obi was the Vice Presidential candidate of the party in 2007.
Tinubu, who maintained that Atiku has no business raising the issue of a Muslim-Muslim ticket except as a hypocrite, said Atiku lobbied to be MKO Abiola’s running mate in 1993.
“Atiku’s calculations and deceit had nothing to do with religion or his sensitivity to it. His conduct has everything to do with what we discovered about his paucity of character and love of intrigue.
“True to form, Atiku, fifteen years later, promised HE Governor Nyesom Wike the same thing this electoral season and similarly reneged. Governor Wike is a Christian.
“When it comes to intrigue, we can say that Atiku is without bias. He will attempt to lie and deceive both Christian and Muslim with equal vigour.
“Atiku has no business raising the issue of a Muslim-Muslim ticket except as a hypocrite. Perhaps he believes people have forgotten his antics during the 1993 election. After he woefully lost his bid to be the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, what did he do? He canvassed and lobbied harder than anyone to become the running mate to late Chief MKO Abiola. When it benefitted him personally, Atiku did not see anything wrong with Muslim-Muslim ticket. He saw everything right in such a ticket as long as he was on it,” he said.
