Paul Ibe, spokesperson to former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has rejected claims that President Bola Tinubu simply handed over the Action Congress (AC) to Atiku to contest the 2007 presidential election.
Ibe made the clarification in a statement posted on his official X account on Friday, following comments by Arise News anchor Rufai Oseni on The Morning Show suggesting that Tinubu helped Atiku secure the AC platform for the election.
According to Ibe, the claim presents an inaccurate version of the political events that led to the formation of the AC in 2006.
He explained that the party emerged from a broader political realignment involving the Tinubu-led faction of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), the Justice Party and other political groups following opposition to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s bid for a third term.
Ibe identified prominent figures on the AD side as Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and Chief Adebayo Adefarati.
He said the ACD and PDP breakaway group included Atiku, Audu Ogbeh, Lawal Kaita, Bashir Dalhatu and Gali Na’Abba, among others.
Citing Akande’s autobiography, Ibe said the former AC national chairman described the formation of the party as an agreement between the two political blocs, noting that Atiku was expected to emerge as the presidential candidate while Tinubu could become his running mate.
The arrangement, he added, eventually collapsed because Atiku was not willing to run on a Muslim-Muslim ticket. Atiku subsequently contested the 2007 presidential election on the AC platform with Senator Ben Obi as his running mate.
Ibe also referenced the account of former AC national chairman Tom Ikimi, which he said described the party as a coalition between the PDP breakaway group and the AD faction rather than a political platform personally owned by Tinubu.
He further argued that the political relationship between Atiku and Tinubu predated the formation of the AC and involved mutual political support.
According to Ibe, Atiku had previously stood by Tinubu during the 2003 political battle in which the PDP-led administration under Obasanjo sought to weaken the AD’s hold on the South-West.
“So the history is not one of Tinubu simply giving Atiku a political platform and receiving nothing in return,” Ibe said.
He maintained that Atiku and Tinubu were political allies who exchanged political support at different points, stressing that the AC was the product of a wider political coalition.
Ibe said reducing the history of the party to a simple benefactor-beneficiary relationship amounted to a distortion of the political record.
Atiku and Tinubu are again set to face each other in the 2027 presidential race, with Atiku contesting under the ADC and Tinubu seeking re-election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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