Atiku tackles Shettima over claim on enjoying Tinubu’s goodwill

Former vice president Atiku Abubakar has taken vice president Kashim Shettima to task over his claim that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election benefited from President Bola Tinubu’s goodwill when he was being “persecuted” in the PDP.

In a statement on Sunday by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, the former vice president said Shettima “goofed” during the Friday inauguration of his new official residence when he made the claim.

He said, on the contrary, that it was Tinubu that gained from Turakin Adamawa’s goodwill.

The statement recalled how Atiku emerged as the presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress (AC), saying that rather than just Tinubu who chose him, he was elected by members of the Advance Congress of Democrats (ACD), formed by the defunct Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Tinubu faction of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).

The statement added: “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 the termination of his political career.

“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 the 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.

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

“The delegates to the primaries of the election that threw up the former Vice President as the party’s presidential candidate included Atiku Abubakar himself, 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, Alh. Lawan, Dr Chris Ngige, Prof. Ango Abdulahi, Dr Farouk Abdul Azeez, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Chief Ejiofor Onyia, and Dr Iyorchia Ayu, among others. From Tinubu’s Alliance for Democracy were Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief Segun Osoba, Chief Adebayo Adefarati, and Chief Bisi Akande, among others.

“It will be appropriate for Vice President Shettima to refrain from making statements on subject matters on which he knows little or nothing.”

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