The former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar said on Wednesday that he declined to make former Lagos State Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu his running mate in 2007 because he preferred the South East.
Atiku made it clear during a meeting with members of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT) in Abuja. He noted that when he defected to Tinubu’s then Action Congress (AC) in 2006, he was given some conditions before being given the presidential ticket for the 2007 election. The primary priority, he said, was to choose Tinubu as his running partner.
Atiku’s Presidential aspiration faith under the PDP
Because of his confidence in the South East, Atiku stated he turned down the offer and chose Senator Ben Obi of Anambra State.
In his words, “When I joined the Action Congress (AC), which my friend, Bola, set up, he gave me a set of conditions for giving me the ticket. He said that I should make him vice president. I said no, I am not going to make you vice president; instead, I took Ben Obi.”
“When I got the ticket again to run under the PDP, I took another Obi (Peter Obi) coincidentally. So, there is absolutely no reason why they should say that there is a deliberate attempt to exclude the South East in political participation or power-sharing.”
