The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has opened up on his rivals in the upcoming 2023 presidential election.
Atiku who spoke during an interview with the Arise TV, monitored by The New Diplomat, opened up on the candidacy of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
Speaking on Tinubu, Atiku made chilling revelation about how their political relationship went sour.
Atiku who noted that Tinubu is still his ‘friend’, however said that his fundamental problem with the former Lagos governor was his preference for a Muslim-Muslim ticket since the duo’s political rapprochement in 2007.
Atiku explained that Tinubu has always openly expressed his choice for a Muslim-Muslim ticket, an opinion Atiku believes is not good for a multi-religious country like Nigeria.
Atiku has said his political ties with Bola Tinubu crashed in 2007 after Tinubu demanded for the vice-presidential candidate of the now-defunct Action Congress (AC) in that year’s presidential election.
He noted that he rejected the demands on the grounds that it would amount to a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
Thereafter, Atiku said he became politically-estranged with Tinubu after he presented Ben Obi, a Christian from southern Nigeria, as his vice-presidential candidate in the 2007 election.
According to him, Tinubu then switched allegiance to support Umar Yar’Adua of the then-ruling PDP, who later went on to win the election.
Atiku said, “My fundamental disagreement with Asiwaju since 2007 was on the issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket. That was my fundamental disagreement and departure politically from Tinubu.
“Remember, I came out of PDP on the issue of zoning and together with Asiwaju, we formed ACN and I was given the presidential ticket in Lagos. He insisted to be my running mate and I didn’t believe it was right to have a Muslim-Muslim ticket. And because of that he switched support to late Yar’Adua.
“And, of course it is also a fact that when Buhari emerged in 2015, I opposed a Muslim-Muslim ticket. And my own position actually forced President Buhari to choose a Christian running mate. So I have all along opposed the Muslim-Muslim ticket because I don’t believe it is right for the country.”
When asked about his relationship with Tinubu, who is a former Lagos State governor, Atiku in the interview on Arise TV explained that they still remain friends despite their political differences.
“I’m still a friend of him and being friends with him doesn’t mean we can’t have our political differences,” he added.
On Obi, Atiku said the Labour Party candidate cannot pose a threat to him in the forthcoming poll.
According to him, Obi has no political structure that can guarantee him victory despite the social media sensation and acceptability of his candidacy.
He noted that the reality remains that the LP does not have people in government nor the National Assembly.
He said expecting Obi to win the 2023 presidential election is expecting miracles, adding that such miracle is difficult to come by.
Atiku made this known in the interview.
In his words, “I don’t expect Labour Party to make as much vote from PDP. We could have seen it in Osun.
“They claim they have 100 million supporters online but you saw what they scored in Osun. In fact, in the North, 90 percent of our people are not on the internet.
“Labour Party that does not have governor, members in the National Assembly, it doesn’t have State House of Assembly members. And politics in this country depends on the structure you have at these various levels.
“Structure at the local government level, State government and national level. So, it is very difficult to expect a miracle to happen simply because Peter Obi is in the Labour Party.”
Speaking further, Atiku clarified that he picked the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta as his running mate because he had the qualities to be a President, adding that he “is a President-in-waiting.”
The clarification came amidst controversies that he ignored the choice of several stakeholders in the party by not choosing Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, as his running mate.
He said, “In arriving at the decision, I held wide consultations with various stakeholders in our party including our governors, the national working committee, board of trustees, and other leaders to seek their inputs and their wisdom.
“In these consultations, I made clear that my running mate would have the potential to succeed me at a moment’s notice, that is, a president-in-waiting.
“In other words, the person must have the qualities to be President. The person must have an appreciation of the deep rot which our country has been put into by the rudderless All Progressives Congress government; understands the great suffering that most of our people are going through and the urgency of relieving them of that suffering; understands the critical importance of economic growth and development to provide our young people with jobs, hope, and a pathway to wealth.”
