Former Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has reacted to the comments made by presidential hopeful and former governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This as the former Senate president said when he opposed the plan to foist a Muslim-Muslim presidency on Nigeria in 2014 he acted in the best interest of Nigeria.
Saraki, in a statement signed by the head of his Media Office, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said his stance against a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the build up to the 2015 presidential election was not targeted at Tinubu or any other person.
The New Diplomat had reported that Tinubu, while on a consultation visit to the delegates in Ogun state, reeled out how he put President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, among others, in Nigeria’s political limelight.
The former president recounted how he pulled Buhari out of his political retirement and led the ‘war’ that eventually made him the President in 2015.
He also said that Saraki, among others in the party sabotaged his chance of becoming the Vice president in 2015 by rejecting the Muslim-Muslim ticket.
However, Saraki in his response noted that the decision by him and other party chieftains to pick a Christian Vice President was not a move to sabotage Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
The statement reads, “When I and other leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014 stood against having a Muslim-Muslim ticket, it was not a decision targeted at any individual or group but one taken in the national interest. Asiwaju knows this and he is just being mischievous by presenting this decision as something aimed at stopping his ambition.
“Let me make it clear that the decision to oppose the plans by some people to make APC present a Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2015 was in the national interest and I will take the same stand today, tomorrow, and any other day. My stance is based on the fact that such a ticket is not good for the unity of the country and will further accentuate one of our fault lines.
“Even Asiwaju Tinubu knows that I am a man who does not shy away from standing for what is right. He knows that I don’t follow the crowd and I take a stand based on my conviction of what is good for the country and what is not good for her. It is also obvious that I have paid prices for this stand.
“The opposition to a Muslim- Muslim ticket was not targeted at Tinubu or any other person. It was a decision that even all party leaders know helped the victory of the party and also worked for the unity of the country. That decision is not about self but national and collective interests. It is a decision which served the purpose of the people of Nigeria and I have no regret supporting it”, Saraki added.
