Atiku to Shettima: You know nothing, Tinubu benefitted from my goodwill

The Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, has lashed out at Vice President Kashim Shettima over claims that he benefitted from President Bola Tinubu’s goodwill when he was being “persecuted” in the PDP.

Shettima had said Atiku, a former Vice President, and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, once benefitted from Tinubu’s political goodwill when they were being persecuted.

The Vice President said this while declaring open the Third Expanded National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Business Clinics in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, on Thursday, June 6, 2024.

He said Tinubu’s home in Lagos became a sanctuary for Atiku when he was allegedly being harassed, intimidated, and chased out of the PDP.

Reacting, the PDP standard bearer, in a statement issued by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, on Sunday, June 9, said Shettima should refrain from “making statements on subject matters on which he knows little or nothing about”.

Ibe stated: “Truth be told, it was Tinubu that actually benefitted immensely from Atiku’s goodwill.

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“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 2nd 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.

“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.

“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 the Tinubu’s Alliance for Democracy were Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief Segun Osoba, Chief Adebayo Adefarati, and Chief Bisi Akande, among others.”

The Star