The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has disclosed that he still remains friends with his main challenger and presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.
Atiku stated this while speaking during an exclusive interview with Arise TV which was aired on Friday morning.
When asked about his relationship with Tinubu, who is a former Lagos State governor, Atiku explained that they still remain friends despite their political differences.
“I’m still a friend of him and being friends with him doesn’t mean we can’t have our political differences,” Atiku said.
On his position on the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC, the former vice president noted that he had always opposed the same-faith ticket.
He said, “We will go to battle with APC. My fundamental disagreement with Tinubu since 2007 was due to the Muslim-Muslim ticket issue. And this formed my reason to have parted ways with him politically.
“I remember I left PDP on the issue of zoning and together with him we formed the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria. I was given the ticket and Tinubu insisted that he must be my running mate
“But I turned the demands down that I will not contest the election on a Muslim-Muslim ticket base. And due to that, he switched his support to the late Umar Yar’ Adua during the poll.
“And that was the parting point. And of course in 2015 when Buhari emerged through the primary, I opposed the Muslim-Muslim ticket when it was brought to the table. And my decision then made Buhari change his plans and went for someone that is not of the same faith as him, a Christian.
“Before now, I have often opposed it. I do not believe that the country is ripe for that at the moment. We are a multi-religious country and we should give all faiths the opportunity”.
Asked about the potential threat of Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to his presidential ambition in the 2023 elections, Atiku clarified that social media presence and acceptability won’t win him (Obi) election.
He noted that despite the social media sensation and acceptability of Obi’s candidacy, the reality remains that the LP does not have people in government or the National Assembly.
“The Labour Party does not have a government in any state or anyone in the National Assembly. Peter Obi is not a threat. They said they have 1 million votes in Osun on social media. Meanwhile, 90 percent of voters are not voting through social media,” Atiku said
