How we Spared Tinubu in 2003 PDP’s Massive Victory in Southwest – Atiku
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has confirmed widely held belief that himself and his principal, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, used federal might to win the gubernatorial elections in the southwest in 2003 in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
It would be recalled that the Alliance for Democracy (AD) was ruling in all six southwest states prior to the 2003 general elections when the PDP took over after the controversial polls.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu (Lagos), Segun Osoba (Ogun), Lam Adesina (Oyo), Bisi Akande (Osun), Adebayo Adefarati (Ondo) and Adeniyi Adebayo (Ekiti) were the AD governors of the southwest between 1999 and 2003 before five of them were defeated by PDP candidates.
With the exception of Tinubu who won re-election, Gbenga Daniel (Ogun), Rasheed Ladoja (Oyo), Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Osun), Segun Agagu (Ondo) and Ayo Fayose (Ekiti) replaced the sitting governors in the remaining five states.
The elections that ousted the five AD governors were adjudged by voters, journalists, local and foreign observers to have been allegedly rigged in favour of the PDP.
Boasting about how he has been a political benefactor to Tinubu who is now the President of Nigeria, Atiku said in a world press conference on Thursday in Abuja that he had to convince Obasanjo to spare Lagos since they had the plan to take over the whole of southwest.
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Fielding questions from journalists after the press conference in which he addressed the fallout of the Chicago State University (CSU)’s deposition on the President’s certificate, Atiku also denied allegations that he betrayed Tinubu, who many see as his former political ally.
“I disagreed with Tinubu, yes it’s true that we came together in 2007. In Lagos, at the convention, I emerged the winner and got the party’s ticket. After I got the ticket, he sent me about five or six senior party men, and they met me and said Bola (Tinubu) wanted to be my running mate.
“I said, gentlemen, you are all old enough, and asked, What would be your reaction to having a Muslim-Muslim ticket?
“They all answered that they objected to it, I then told them they should have told him and that was the end of the political relationship; he (Tinubu) broke away, and supported Umaru Yar’Adua. So what is the ground for him to say I betrayed him?
“In 2003, the PDP took over all the southwestern states with the exception of Lagos. I stood between Obasanjo and Tinubu and told Obasanjo to leave Lagos, and he left it. I vehemently deny that I stabbed Tinubu in the back.
“Till today, I won’t do a Muslim-Muslim ticket; I don’t have to be President; we are a multi-ethnic and multi-religious people, and our government must reflect our diversity, and our composition must reflect the same,” he said.
PRNigeria recalls that Atiku was the candidate of the PDP in the February 2023 presidential election which he lost to Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The former Vice President filed a petition at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) alleging that he was rigged out and that Tinubu was not qualified to have contested in the first place.
After the PEPT dismissed his case for lack of merit, he filed an appeal at the Supreme Court to seek further redress.
By PRNigeria
