The attempt by Abubakar Atiku to damage the reputation of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC standard bearer, has been characterised as an indication of disrespect, a loss of moral direction, and a deteriorating recollection of previous events by a volunteer group named BAT Southwest Volunteers.
According to a statement issued by the group’s National Publicity Secretary, Gbadebo Adeagbo, Atiku is unappreciative of his sponsors and has already forgotten the obvious truths that are available to all Nigerians due to his desperation to win the presidency of the nation.
The National Publicity Secretary stated that Atiku had benefited from the political generosity of the Southwest and had occasionally visited the region as a vacation destination and a source of encouragement while he looked for a change in direction for his political career. Adeagbo described how, in 1999, Olusegun Obasanjo overruled other opposing opinions to choose Atiku as his running mate.
He emphasised that Nigerians had witnessed Atiku’s rise to the position of Defacto President and how he had collaborated with his principal’s adversaries to undermine that principal’s administration. As a result of his propensity for treachery, Atiku would later be expelled from the party.
In order to prevent the former vice president’s political career from crashing and burning in 2007, Bola Tinubu handed him a platform to run on a plate of gold out of compassion and generosity.
“Nigerians can recount how Atiku effortlessly made move at succeeding his former boss in 2007 because he believed he has sufficient stolen funds to wage war against his benefactor. Everyone is also aware when Bola Tinubu, offered him a platform he never laboured for, without giving him any condition to contest. Although Atiku lost, not because of the platform he was offered but because many Nigerians believed he showed a strong predilection to mistrust.
“It is also open to everyone that Atiku has moved from one political party to another more than any politician in Nigeria not because he loves the country so dearly but because he wants to actualize his long-time ambition of becoming the President since his first attempt in 1993 proved abortive.”, The statement stressed.
It is regrettable that Atiku has never once expressed gratitude to the Yorubas in the choice of his running mate, despite the efforts of one of the main figures in the Yoruba race to save him. Despite running on a platform that was primarily Yoruba-based in 2007, Atiku selected Senator Ben Obi. The same course of events occurred in 2019 and 2023, during which he unilaterally disregarded the selection of a Yoruba running partner.
It makes sense why former president Olusegun Obasanjo recently said that choosing Atiku was his biggest political error, but if it weren’t for God, he would have been swept up in Atiku’s tsunami and manipulations.
Samuel Olajide, the organization’s national coordinator, urges Atiku to avoid pitting the two main religions against one another and emphasises that any attempt to politicise the nation’s already precarious religious climate could have unintended consequences.
The National Coordinator urged him to show readiness in responding to Wike’s question as soon as possible, even though Gov. Wike has promised to reveal what happened between him and Atiku. The National Coordinator advised him to face his party’s problem head-on.
Olajide asked Nigerians to see Atiku’s remarks as inciting and motivated by his inability to recall the previous occurrence.
