Former Sokoto State governor and incumbent Senator representing Sokoto South, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has said that he would back former Vice President Atiku Abubakar ahead of Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, if forced to choose between the two on Nigeria’s future leadership.
Speaking on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ on Friday night, Tambuwal stressed that his political decisions were guided by principles of leadership rather than personal relationships.
“When it comes to leadership of this country and leadership of the people, tomorrow, not even today, I would rather support Atiku than Nyesom Wike,” he declared.
Tambuwal and Wike have had a chequered political relationship. In 2023, the former Rivers State governor openly criticised Tambuwal, Atiku, and Bukola Saraki for allegedly failing to honour an agreement by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership to zone its presidential ticket to the South.
“There’s nobody contesting for the presidency from the North that I do not have a relationship with…that I don’t support,” Wike said at the time, adding that: “The problem I have with friendship is that if we agree on something, let’s keep to it.”
He also claimed that he had supported Tambuwal’s emergence as Speaker of the House of Representatives even when the PDP had another candidate in mind.
However, Tambuwal, while clarifying his choice of Atiku, insisted that his political disagreements have never been personal. He pointed out that he has maintained cordial relationships with past and present leaders across party lines.
“It is a collaboration; it is not something difficult. Once it is about being altruistic and nothing personal. You have never seen me going against President Bola Tinubu personally, you have never heard of me going against Nyesom Wike personally,” he said.
He also recalled his disagreements with former President Goodluck Jonathan, which he maintained were based purely on principles and policy direction.
“We disagreed on principle, the way, and the direction things were going. I had no problem personally with Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, but we disagreed, and I left PDP for APC,” Tambuwal explained.
The former governor further emphasised that friendship and leadership must remain distinct in politics.
“It is not about my friendship with you, and I am saying this with all sense of responsibility. If Atiku Abubakar comes in here and Wike requests my phone, which is personal to me, I will personally give it to Wike as a personal friend,” Tambuwal stated.
