Former SGF, Babachir Lawal Dumps Tinubu, Declares Support For Atiku

Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has thrown weight behind the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, for the forthcoming general elections.

He made this known during an interview with the BBC on Wednesday.

Lawal stated that he is no longer supporting the APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, claiming that the main opposition PDP had a discussion with the All Progressives Congress (APC) Christian leaders and the opposition party agreed to their demands.

He added that the Labour Party also tried to convince him and other aggrieved members to work for the party, but he decided to support Atiku and the PDP.

The APC chieftain asserted that Tinubu will not win the forthcoming presidential election as a result of the Muslim-Muslim ticket fielded by the ruling party.

According to him, he and others supported Tinubu to emerge as the APC flagbearer, but they later realized he had been hiding his decision to pick a Muslim running mate from them.

He said, “I am not for Bola Tinubu now. I am not for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“It is Bola who did not want to go with us, he chose where he wants to go, and we told him that we will not vote for him if he did a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) discussed with us and they agreed to do what we want if we support them and we agreed to support them.

“You see the problem of the northerners, if you say you are a Christian, it is difficult for us to get a job.

“You see, of the 27 universities in the north, there are only two Christian VCs and of 27 polytechnics there are only two Christian rectors, that’s federal, but not to talk of state-owned.”

Meanwhile, the former SGF maintained that he is still a member of the APC but he and some Christain elders in the ruling party would not support Tinubu.

Lawal said he was bothered of being accused of anti-party conduct and being insulted, stating that he joined politics because of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“If Buhari leaves politics, I will also leave because I joined politics because of him,” he said.

When asked whether they tried to reach Tinubu to discuss the issue, Lawal said the APC candidate should be the one to meet the aggrieved party members.

He said, “No, he is the one to look for us now, I will not look for him. We have a place to go and a place to stay. But he didn’t look for us.

“If he sees that he will win the election, let see how he will win the election.

“The discrimination shown to Christians in the North is too much for them, and you still went ahead to do Muslim-Muslim ticket; that is double blows on us.”