Atiku not ready for presidency, admitted breaking the law, says Tinubu campaign group

The recent interview granted by presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, shows that he is not ready to be president, Bola Tinubu campaign organization has said.

Atiku had said during the interview on the ARISE TV on Friday that he offered Bola Tinubu, now presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to be his running mate in 2007, so as not to field a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

But reacting to the Atiku’s claim in a statement on Saturday, Tinubu campaign’s media director, Bayo Onanuga, said they expected the PDP candidate to be well informed so he does not “expose himself to avoidable ridicule”.

“We have watched Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s interview on Arise Television and were extremely shocked by the many lies and ignorance displayed by the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate,” the statement read.

“In the interview, Alhaji Atiku exposed himself as a man who is not prepared for the job he is applying for and a man who cannot be entrusted with our commonwealth.

“He was flippant in his response to important questions about his record of service and how he made money while serving in Customs. He muddled up facts and exhibited a befuddling absence of mind.

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“It was most shocking Atiku admitted that he cheated the system for decades and engaged in gross misconduct as a government worker.

“As a customs officer at the Idi-Iroko border, Atiku revealed that he ran a commercial taxi service, claiming ‘there is no law stopping public officers from doing business in Nigeria’. He punched harder, claiming there is no conflict of interest in doing so.

“We found this to be untrue. Every officer in the civil service is expected to comply with a code of conduct and service rules which bar civil and public servants from engaging in private business.

“In 1993, after Atiku and Kingibe lost to MKO Abiola in the SDP presidential primary in Jos, Atiku was the choice of the Yar’Adua camp to become Abiola’s running mate.

“Abiola overlooked him and picked the more cerebral diplomat and bureaucrat, Babagana Kingibe. In all the tonnes of biographies written about him, there was nowhere he said he opposed Shehu Yar’Adua’s support for his candidacy as Abiola’s VP.

“He was not against it, since it favoured him. Now, it is politically convenient and opportunistic for him to oppose the Tinubu-Shettima ticket.

“Our conclusion is that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is ill-prepared to be President of Nigeria if he could bungle a Television interview that was planned well ahead of the day and time the duo of Dr. Reuben Abati and Ms.Tundun Abiola conducted it.

“We expected the PDP presidential candidate to be well informed on any issue before coming on national television to expose himself to avoidable ridicule.”