By Paul Ibe
Vice President Kashim Shettima’s attempt to portray Atiku Abubakar as a beneficiary of Bola Tinubu’s political generosity in 2007 is a distortion of history that should not go unchallenged.
For Shettima’s education, the Action Congress (AC), on whose platform Atiku contested the 2007 presidential election, was not Tinubu’s personal political property.
The AC emerged in 2006 from a coalition involving Tinubu’s faction of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), the Justice Party and other political interests.
On the AD side were Bola Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and other prominent AD leaders.
On the ACD/PDP breakaway side were Atiku Abubakar, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Chief Tom Ikimi, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi and former Speaker Ghali Na’Abba, among others.
These were political heavyweights who came together to build an alternative political platform in the aftermath of the struggle against President Olusegun Obasanjo’s third-term ambition.
It was a coalition of political interests, not a charity established by Tinubu to accommodate Atiku.
Indeed, Chief Bisi Akande, a central figure in the formation of the AC and its former National Chairman, acknowledged in his autobiography: “in 2007, we formed a party, the AC, with Abubakar Atiku.”
Akande also disclosed that the understanding was for Atiku to emerge as the presidential candidate, with Tinubu considered as his running mate.
That proposal ultimately failed over objections to a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket.
Now, if Tinubu merely gave Atiku a political platform out of generosity, why was Tinubu himself being considered for the position of running mate? The answer is simple: they were political partners, not landlord and tenant.
Atiku was already Vice President of Nigeria, with an established national political structure and considerable political influence, long before the AC was formed. Tinubu did not manufacture Atiku’s political relevance.
Shettima should also remember that Atiku fought attempts to exclude him from the 2007 presidential election all the way to the Supreme Court and prevailed.
As for Shettima’s attempt to ridicule Atiku by comparing him with Abraham Lincoln and Raila Odinga, what exactly is his point?
Is repeatedly seeking public office now a political offence? Does electoral defeat extinguish a citizen’s constitutional right to contest another election? And what is dishonourable about Raila Odinga, a major figure in Kenya’s democratic struggle?
As for Shettima’s obsession with Atiku addressing the President as “Bola,” someone should remind him that Bola is Tinubu’s name, not an insult.
Respect for the presidency does not require the worship of its occupant.
What Nigerians find troubling is that, while millions struggle with hunger, insecurity, unemployment and crushing living costs, their Vice President is busy rewriting the history of political alliances formed nearly twenty years ago.
Nigerians deserve explanations for the failures of this administration, not lectures about Tinubu’s supposed political generosity.
Atiku was Tinubu’s political ally, not his political tenant. Tinubu was a partner in the AC alliance, not its sole proprietor.
Shettima should stop manufacturing political debts that history does not recognise. And if the APC is confident about its record, let it campaign on its achievements rather than obsess over Atiku Abubakar.
Ibe is Special Adviser on Media to Atiku Abubarkar
