Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has stated that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s political career would have ended as the governor of Lagos State if not for his (Atiku) support.
He said this while reacting to the widely held position that the President Tinubu came to his rescue following his spat with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, leading to his contesting the Presidential Election on the platform of Action Congress (AC) in 2007.
In a statement through his Media Adviser, Mr Paul Ibe, said, “Vice President Kashim Shettima goofed when he claimed that former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar benefited from President Bola Tinubu’s goodwill when he was being “persecuted” in the PDP.
“Truth be told, it was Tinubu that actually benefited 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.”
Explaining the true situation of things, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Candidate in the last election 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.
“Shettima needs to be reminded that Atiku did not run under the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), but Action Congress (AC). AC came out of a coalition of ACD (Advance Congress of Democrats), formed by mainly PDM members and other associates and Tinubu’s faction of AD.”
According to him President 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.”
