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Politics

BBC interview: Fintiri, Atiku’s relationship intact, says aide

The media directorate, Adamawa State Government House, on Sunday, rubbished insinuations of a crack in the relationship between Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

Political opponents and critics, the directorate said, had misinterpreted the governor’s response to questions during an interview with the BBC, one of which was whether he will support Atiku for President in 2023.

In a statement last night, the Special Aide to the Governor, Solomon Kumangar, dismissed the narrative projecting a face-off between Fintiri and Atiku as nothing short of “political vulturism”.

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Kumangar said contrary to the impression some media analysts had given to the development over the BBC interview, the bond between the two leaders is very much intact.

“They are always in touch with one another. Their relationship remains as strong as ever. And between the two of them, only they know how they manage their enviable relationship,” the spokesman said.

He explained that the Governor was reluctant to answer such a question of supporting Atiku in 2023 as it will amount to campaigns when INEC the umpire is yet to blow the whistle for 2023 elections.

He added: “like the biblical two sons when their Father called the first Son to the farm he obliged but did not go, but the second Son that declined went to the farm, from the BBC interview, the Governor was tactical not to be caught flouting the electoral act by an open campaign on the BBC interview.

“While this action has been widely accepted with great relief by lovers of democracy and the rank and file of the membership, we are concerned that political vulturism masquerading as ‘smart analysis’ is selling the commentary that this is a Fintiri-Atiku ‘rift’.

“Nothing can be further from the truth.

“To set the records straight, Fintiri has immense respect for Atiku, as the only son of the soil that has attained the height of being a vice president.

 Secondly, after the BBC interview, the duo of Atiku and the Governor attended a ceremony in Yola penultimate Saturday when former chieftains of the All Progressive congress joined the PDP. Governor Fintiri and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who is reckoned as a founding father and member of the PDP, are both inspired by democratic norms, national interest and not at all by partisan motivations.

“These are the qualities that have made them move past cynical distractions.

“Try as hard as they could; the opposition parties have used all their intellectuals and their supporters in the media to break this relationship but have failed and they would not succeed”

“For Fintiri, who has received much of the cynical commentary, Adamawa electorate know him as someone who will not do anything with bad intentions. Neither will he do anything out of partisan motivations or for himself

The Governor has made it clear several times that he will support Adamawa sons and daughters for any national appointment or elective position as the father of the state

When the time comes for election, the Governor will do the needful not openly campaign for the 2023 election in the media when the time is not ripe for it.

The statement came moments after Messrs. Fintiri and Atiku were seen receiving a former SSG to the Adamawa state government and others penultimate Saturday.

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