Blasphemy: Why I deleted tweet on Deborah’s killing — Atiku

Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has said every tweet on his official social media handles must get his approval before publication.

Atiku, one of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirants, had earlier reacted to the killing of a 200-level student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto State, Deborah Samuel, who was accused of blasphemy.

The post was later deleted by the former Vice President, generating a lot of social media backlash.

However, Atiku, while speaking during a consultative visit to Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, at the Government House, Benin, on Friday, said the tweet on the student’s murder was not approved by him.

He said: “Every tweet has to get my expressed approval but this one didn’t so I asked them to take it down.

“I took a stand about Sharia law and was abused, thrown stones at, but how long did it last? Despite that I didn’t change my position on that. I am not afraid to take a stand on critical issues.”

Speaking on his presidential ambition, the former Vice President said investment in education is key.

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“If you can recall what the PDP government did then while in power, we created the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).

“We also set up the Primary School Education Fund and Education Tax Fund to enable us (PDP Federal Government) provide sufficient money to both state and local governments to enable them to have sufficient money to invest in primary and secondary education.

“We also passed the law to make education compulsory for every Nigerian child, from primary to secondary schools,” the presidential aspirant said.

While speaking on the issue of zoning for the PDP presidential ticket, Atiku said zoning was not jettisoned by the party.

On the issue of getting a running mate, he said that he would sit down with the party to agree on a running mate for the 2023 presidential election.

The Star