Atiku to Shettima: ‘You goofed’

•Says it was Tinubu who actually benefited from his goodwill

By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2023 general election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has said that it will be appropriate for Vice President, Kashin Shettima to refrain from making statements on subject matters on which he knows little or nothing about.
Atiku said this in a statement on Sunday by his Media Adviser, Mazi Paul Ibe in Abuja.
The former Vice President of Nigeria between 1999 and 2007 specifically declared that Kashim Shettima goofed when he claimed that Atiku Abubakar benefited from President Bola Tinubu’s goodwill when he was being “persecuted” in the PDP.
The statement pointed out that it if the truth must be told, it was Tinubu that actually benefited immensely from Atiku’s goodwill.
According to the statement by Ibe, “Vice President Kashim Shettima goofed when he claimed that former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar benefited from President Bola Tinubu’s goodwill when he was being “persecuted” in the PDP.
“Truth be told, it was Tinubu that actually benefited immensely from Atiku’s goodwill.
“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.
“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.
“Shettima needs to be reminded that Atiku did not run under the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), but Action Congress (AC). AC came out of a coalition of ACD (Advance Congress of Democrats), formed by mainly PDM members and other associates and Tinubu’s faction of AD.
“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.”