By Abimbola Ogunnaike
The son of former Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, Senator Abdulaziz Nyako, has revealed how the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, played an important role after the impeachment of his father.
Senator Nyako revealed this while answering questions from journalists at a town hall meeting in Yola, the state capital over the weekend.
Abdulaziz, APC Candidate for Adamawa Central Senatorial District, said Tinubu and ex-Senate President Bukola Saraki came to his father’s aid, adding that he owed the duo respect for standing with his father when Northern governors, including members of his G5 group that fought Jonathan, refused to give him temporary shelter in their states.
He explained that it was Tinubu and Saraki that staked their necks to facilitate Nyako’s escape to London where he lived in exile until President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in 2015.
“Asiwaju and Saraki helped Admiral (Nyako) to leave the country. In fact, it was Asiwaju’s son that paid for his (Admiral Nyako’s) accommodation in London”, he stated.
He added that he had tremendous respect for Tinubu and Saraki for their support to his father at the most critical time when the state security apparatus were deployed to hunt him down.
The senator said that at that time, Tinubu’s camp canvassed his vote for Ahmad Lawan for Senate Presidency as against Saraki, he told them he could not trade Saraki for anybody except Tinubu himself.
He therefore restated his unalloyed support for Tinubu’s presidential ambition, saying the Muslim-Muslim ticket is necessary to woo Muslim votes in the North and does not any way represent a scheme to exclude the Christian population.
Abdulaziz represented his Senatorial District at the Senate between 2015 and 2019, when he contested for Governor under the platform of the African Democratic Party (ADC), having fallen out with the then APC governor, Muhammadu Jibrilla Bindow, whom his father supported to become Governor.
It will be recalled that Nyako was impeached on July 15, 2014 following his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC. Nyako Snr had led five governors to form a faction of the then ruling PDP known as new PDP (nPDP) to challenge alleged plot to destabilise the northern region.
The faction eventually teamed up with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to oust Jonathan in 2015. A memo which Nyako wrote to northern governors, alleging that the Federal Government was prosecuting genocide against northerners had widened the rift he had with Jonathan.
After his impeachment, incumbent Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, who was Speaker of the Adamawa assembly, became acting Governor of the state.
