Former Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has disclosed that his late political mentor, Shehu Musa Yar’adua, asked him to step down for the acclaimed winner of the 1993 presidential election winner, MKO Abiola.
Atiku said Yar’Adua gave him the instruction during the Social Democratic Party, SDP, primaries.
He made this known in an interview with Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie of Untold Stories.
The former Vice President also disclosed that governors on the platform of SDP threatened to withdraw their support if Abiola picked him instead of Babagana Kingibe.
He said: “I think there have been some misinterpretation or misrepresentation of what actually happened, even though I had in the past addressed the circumstances surrounding that incident.
“So I told him, ‘Look, if you don’t come to Jos, there is every likelihood that Kingibe is going to be elected, and I know you don’t want it. So you better come to Jos, no matter how late.’
“And he drove all the way from Kaduna to Jos. By the time he came to Jos, it was about three or four a.m. And he called for a meeting in 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 election which saw MKO Abiola emerging as the winner was annulled by the the regime of former military Head of State, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, IBB.
However, Babangida in February, 2025, expressed regret for annulling Abiola’s victory in 1993.
IBB described the election as free, fair and credible.
