Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar says the tenure of President Bola Tinubu when he was governor of Lagos would have been rough without his support.
Tinubu was Lagos governor between 1999 and 2007.
Atiku was reacting to a statement made by Vice-President Kashim Shettima on Thursday.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti state capital, Shettima said before contesting for the presidency, Tinubu had backed three northerners for the same seat, including Atiku who contested under Action Congress (AC) in 2007.
Tinubu was a chieftain of the party at the time.
Responding to Shettima’s statement, Paul Ibe, Atiku’s spokesperson, said Tinubu was not in a position to lend the party’s platform to Atiku in 2007.
He added that Atiku was nominated as the presidential candidate by all the party’s delegates from all parts of the country.
“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,” he 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.
“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.
“It will be appropriate for Vice President Shettima to refrain from making statements on subject matters on which he knows little or nothing about.”
