A former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has explained why the winner of the June 12, 1993 election, Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, did not pick him as his running mate for the poll but Alhaji Babagana Kingibe.
The former Vice President said this in an interview with Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie on her yet to be broadcast television show: “Untold Stories.”
According to a report by Daily Trust, which was given a preview of the interview, Abubakar also spoke on how his late political mentor, Shehu Yar’adua, instructed him to step down for Abiola during the primaries of the Social Democratic Party for him to be named the running mate of the late business mogul.
Daily Trust quoted him as having said: “I think there has been some misinterpretation or misrepresentation of what actually happened, even though I had in the past addressed the circumstances surrounding that incident.”
According to Daily Trust, he said after the first ballot, he called Yar’adua, who was in Kaduna at the time due to a political ban, and told him that Babagana Kingibe was poised to win if he didn’t intervene.
He added: “So I told him: ‘Look, if you don’t come to Jos, there is every likelihood that Babagana Kingibe is going to be elected, and I know you don’t want it. So you better come to Jos, no matter how late.’
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“And he drove all the way from Kaduna to Jos.
“By the time he came to Jos, it was about 3 or 4am.
“And he called for a meeting in Alhaji Yahaya Kwande’s house.
“I do not know what he discussed with the late MKO Abiola.
“I was not privy to the meeting, and he did not tell me.
“But when we got to the meeting in Ambassador Kwande’s house, all he told me was that: ‘Turaki.’
“I said: ‘Yes, sir.’
“He said: ‘Step down for MKO Abiola.’
“I said: ‘Okay, sir. I have stepped down.’”
The former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party said he later learnt that governors elected on the platform of the SDP pressured Abiola to choose Kingibe instead.
The Waziri Adamawa said: “They threatened him and said: ‘Look, if you don’t take Kingibe, we are not going to support you.’
“And the reason being that all of them got their tickets when Kingibe was the chairman of SDP and Abiola felt that it was a risk worth taking.”
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