Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has recalled how his late political mentor, Shehu Yar’adua, directed him to withdraw from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) primaries in favor of Chief Moshood Abiola, the widely recognized winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election.
He shared this account during an interview on the television program “Untold Stories” with Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie, which is set to air today.
Atiku also discussed why Abiola later went back on an agreement with Yar’adua to select him (Atiku) as his running mate after winning the SDP nomination.
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“I think there have been some misinterpretation or misrepresentation of what actually happened, even though I had in the past addressed the circumstances surrounding that incident,” he said.
Atiku Abubakar recounted that following the first round of voting, he contacted Shehu Yar’adua, who was in Kaduna due to a political ban, and informed him that Babagana Kingibe was likely to win if Yar’adua did not intervene.
“So I told him, ‘Look, if you don’t come to Jos, there is every likelihood that Babagana Kingibe is going to be elected, and I know you don’t want it. So you better come to Jos, no matter how late.’
“And he drove all the way from Kaduna to Jos. By the time he came to Jos, it was about three or four a.m. And he called for a meeting in Alhaji Yahaya Kwande’s house. I do not know what he discussed with the late MKO Abiola. I was not privy to the meeting, and he did not tell me. But when we got to the meeting in Ambassador Kwande’s house, all he told me was that, ‘Turaki.’ I said, ‘Yes, sir.’ He said, ‘Step down for MKO Abiola.’ I said, ‘Okay, sir. I have stepped down.’”
Atiku said he later learnt that SDP governors pressured Abiola to choose Kingibe instead.
“They threatened him and said, ‘Look, if you don’t take Kingibe, we are not going to support you.’ And the reason being that, all of them got their tickets when Kingibe was the chairman of SDP and Abiola felt that it was a risk worth taking.”
According to Atiku Abubakar, Moshood Abiola eventually disregarded his agreement with Shehu Yar’adua and chose Babagana Kingibe as his running mate.
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