The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, said that contrary to circulating claims, President Bola Tinubu immensely benefited from his goodwill.
On Thursday, Vice President Kashim Shettima stated that both Atiku Abubakar and National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu once benefited from President Tinubu’s political support during their times of persecution.
Shettima mentioned that President Tinubu’s residence in Bourdillon served as a refuge for Atiku when he faced alleged harassment, intimidation, dehumanisation, and expulsion from the PDP.
Reacting in a statement by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, on Sunday, Atiku said Shettima “goofed,” adding that “truth be told, it was Tinubu that actually benefited immensely from Atiku’s goodwill.”
The former Vice President stated that without his support, President Tinubu would not have enjoyed his tenure as Lagos State Governor and might have been impeached.
He stated “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 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.”
