A former Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, has faulted All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains like Rotimi Amaechi, Salihu Lukman, Babachir Lawal, and other dissatisfied members fighting against President Bola Tinubu.
Shittu, while pushing Tinubu to soothe, former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, in an interview with Punch, said Amaechi’s fury against Tinubu is not warranted.
Shittu believes that rather than being voiced in a confrontational way, Amaechi’s allegations of inconsistencies in the APC presidential primary ought to be challenged in court.
Shittu advised Tinubu to make peace, pointing out that Amaechi’s actions of just mouthing his disapproval of Tinubu on the flimsy accusation that people were paid were wrong.
Speaking about Babachir Lawal, Shittu claimed that his battle against Tinubu over the alleged Muslim ticket was pointless.
The APC leader explained that since Babachir is a minority in the North, he would not have cast the same vote as Vice President Kashim Shettima in the 2023 election.He said, “Look, I will take them one by one. Salihu Lukman is one person I’ve never met, and really I don’t know his grievances. But I know he’s a very intelligent person, I know he’s a key figure in the party, but honestly, I don’t know him in person. But as for Rotimi Amaechi, he’s my friend, but I think that he’s been most unfair to the process. There was a primary election to produce a presidential candidate. He participated in it. Tinubu participated too. When he lost, he was claiming that Tinubu bought the delegates. Could there have been anybody who did not pay delegates either for transportation or for whatever? I think he’s just bitter at being a bad loser. Besides, how old is Rotimi? He still has so many years ahead of him and needs to be patient. Just because you lost an election, you are now trying to throw away the baby with the bathwater.
I think it is not reasonable and it is not in his long-term interest. He’s not too comfortable in his state. At the national level, instead of him to continue to sustain friendship through peace building and all of that, he’s very antagonistic. I don’t think it is in his best interest. The election has come and gone. That is the primary election. If he had issues, he ought to have gone to court to challenge the process. If he was sure that he could have won or that immoral measures came into the success or triumph of Tinubu. But he didn’t do that. So, merely mouthing all over the place condemning Tinubu on the baseless allegation that people were bought, how does he hope to prove that? And how does that remedy his loss? As for Babachir Lawal, I feel very sad about him. We were in the same cabinet together. He told me that it was Tinubu who recommended him for appointment as Secretary to the Government. Before that appointment, who knew Babachir Lawal? You don’t bite the fingers that feed you.
“So, his fight against Tinubu because of the purported Muslim ticket was unnecessary. If they had picked him instead of Kashim Shettima, could he have delivered the votes that Shetima delivered? In his state, he is a minority. In the North, generally, he is also minority. This is an advantage that Shetima had over him. Babachir was expecting that because of the friendship he had built over the years with Tinubu, automatically he would pick him as a Christian cadet. But Tinubu was strategic in choosing the people who could deliver votes. That was what was important at that stage, not religion. So, Shetima, number one, was a Borno person. He was also a former governor and had influence in the North-East region of Nigeria. Again, the majority Muslim North would still prefer a Muslim who could represent their interests, I mean, perceptibly.The PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, is a Muslim from the North. As a result, if you don’t have a presidential candidate from the North and all you can get from the North is a vice presidential candidate, should you not go to the majority force in the North to pick a candidate who might be perceived as representing their interest in the North? It’s bullshit.
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