How I persuaded Obasanjo not to take over Lagos from Tinubu - Atiku shares details

The flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, has said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should be grateful to him.

The former vice president claimed that Tinubu should be grateful to him for persuading the then-President Olusegun Obasanjo not to take over Lagos, Channels TV reported.

Obasanjo was Nigeria’s president from 1999 to 2007 under the then-ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while Tinubu of the defunct Action Congress (AC) was the Lagos State governor within that period.

While fielding questions from reporters during the event, Atiku denied claims that he betrayed Tinubu as speculated in some quarters.

He opined thus: “Those of you who are old enough will also remember that in 2003, the PDP took over all the South-Western states with the exception of Lagos. I stood between Obasanjo and himself and said, ‘No, you can’t take over Lagos. Leave it and he left it.”

“There are other things that I would not want to go into. But I vehemently deny that I stabbed him in the back,” he added.

Recalling his relationship with Tinubu, Atiku said the former Lagos governor wanted to be his running mate in the 2007 election but he objected because they are of the same faith.

“Yes, it is true. In 2007, we came together to form AC. And in Lagos at the convention, I emerged as the winner and got the ticket. After I got the ticket, he sent about five or six party men – some of them are hear. I can even name them but I don’t want to embarrass them,” the PDP presidential candidate for the 2023 election said.