2023: Atiku shades Tinubu, says presidency not for comedians

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, has mocked Bola Tinubu, his All Progressives Congress (APC) opponent, noting that the presidency should not be for comedians.

Paul Ibe, the PDP candidate’s media aide who said this in an interview with TheCable on Monday, was reacting to a recent comment by Tinubu about his principal.

While speaking on Sunday at an interactive session with members of the Tijjaniyyah sect at the Kano government house, Tinubu had said he won’t be a part-time president who will share his time between Dubai and Nigeria.

His comment was apparently directed at Abubakar who spent most of his time in Dubai after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared President Muhammadu Buhari as the winner of the 2019 election.

Speaking with TheCable, Ibe said Tinubu’s comment shouldn’t be taken seriously.

“The president of Nigeria, the most populous country in the black continent is not for comedians,” he said.

“The process of selecting a president is not a jamboree so the earlier the APC puts its house together and starts by having a council in place. They shouldn’t be taken seriously because of their inability to organise.

“Nobody should take the candidate of that party (APC) seriously. No one should take a candidate and a party whose health situation, early school, and early years are all shrouded in secrecy. No one should take such a candidate seriously.”

Critics have raised suspicions that Tinubu may be afflicted with Parkinson’s disease — a disorder of the central nervous system that affects movement, often including tremors.