Atiku details how his political alliance with Tinubu broke down

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has explained the reason the relationship between him and Tinubu irredeemably deteriorated after he ran for presidency in 2007.

The duo who are believed to be political allies have been at loggerheads following the February 25 presidential election, through which Tinubu became the 16th President of Nigeria.

Following the dismissal of his petition against Tinubu's election at the Presidential Election Petition Court, Atiku has taken the case to the Supreme Court for a final ruling.

In a bid to prove his case, the former Vice President also dragged Tinubu to a district court in the United States of America to authenticate the allegation that the President forged his Chicago State University certificate.

Amid the legal battle, Tope Ajayi, one of President Tinubu’s spokespersons, alleged that Atiku betrayed his principal by embarrassing him on the global stage.

He said Tinubu offered Atiku a shelter when he was “stripped naked” by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He wrote, “Nobody should subject his or her friend to the level of assault and indignity he has subjected President Tinubu to because of earthly position and contestation for power.

“We are talking of a Tinubu that had moved mountains for Atiku in the past. A Tinubu that offered Atiku a shelter when he was thoroughly beaten by rain and stripped naked by President Obasanjo and his party PDP in 2007.”

Reacting to Ajayi’s claim after his speech at his World Press Conference on Thursday, October 5, 2023, Atiku said his relationship with Tinubu broke down because he rejected him as his running mate for the 2007 presidential election.

He said, “I beg to disagree with Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Yes, it is true in 2007 we came together to form AC and in Lagos at the convention, I emerged the winner and got the ticket. After I got the ticket, he sent about five or six people, some of them are here and they met me and said to me that Bola wanted to be my running mate. I said gentlemen, you’re all old enough and apparently, virtually all of you are Christians except one of you. What would be your reaction to have a Muslim-Muslim ticket? All of them said they totally objected to it. So, why didn’t you tell him when he was giving you the message that Mr Tinubu, the message you’re giving us we don’t seem to agree with you? Why are you coming to me?”

Atiku added that Tinubu had no ground to claim that he betrayed him because he stopped Obasanjo from taking over Lagos during Tinubu’s administration in the state.

“And that was the end of the political relationship, we broke away when I supported Umaru Yar’adua. So, what is the ground for him to say that I betrayed him? For those of you who are old enough, will also remember that the PDP took over all the states in the Southwest with the exception of Lagos. I stood against Obasanjo and said no, you can't take over Lagos, leave it and he left it. So, who is indebted to the other? Is it me or Bola Ahmed Tinubu? There are other things which I would not want to go into, but I vehemently denied that I stabbed him in the back,” Atiku said.

The former VP also said the legal battle between him and Tinubu would end after the ruling of the Supreme Court on the legitimacy of Tinubu’s presidency.