Atiku said that he had twice resisted Tinubu’s Muslim -Muslim ticket plots in the past.
By Ife Osemedua
365Daily – The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has revealed how his counterpart, Senator Bola Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has always plotted the controversial Muslim-Muslim ticket that is currently generating a lot of discourse in the polity.
Atiku said that he had twice resisted Tinubu’s Muslim -Muslim ticket plots in the past.
He made this revelation in a recorded interview on Arise TV, aired on Friday morning, July 22 2022.
Atiku stated: ”My fundamental disagreement with Asiwaju since 2007 was on the issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket, which led to my political departure from Asiwaju.”
He said that when in 2007, both of them belonged to the same party, the Action Congress (AC), and he emerged as the presidential candidate, Tinubu insisted to be his running mate on a basis if Muslim – Muslim ticket, but he refused, as he thought it was inappropriate in a multi-ethnic and religious country such as Nigeria.
“When I refused his proposal, he switched his support to the late Umaru Yar’Adua. That’s the root of my political disagreement with him”, Atiku alleged.
The former Vice President said further that in 2015, when President Muhammadu Buhari emerged as APC’s presidential candidate and the issue of Muslim – Muslim ticket arose, he also vehemently opposed it; and that he influenced Buhari’s decision to go for a Christian running mate.
“I don’t believe in it (Muslim-Muslim ticket), I don’t think it’s proper. We must encourage inclusion at all times,” Atiku said.