Najib hits back at Muhyiddin, says Bersatu undermined Barisan in Sabah polls

PETALING JAYA: The war of words continued between two former prime ministers, with Datuk Seri Najib Razak accusing Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin of planning to undermine Barisan Nasional during the 2020 Sabah polls from the very beginning.

Najib said Muhyiddin had planned to name Sabah Bersatu chief Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor as chief minister candidate all along, refuting Muhyiddin’s earlier Facebook post on Thursday (Feb 3),

In that post, Muhyiddin had claimed that he only named Hajiji as the candidate for the chief minister post because, despite Muhyiddin apparently asking Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to submit a name, Ahmad Zahid had only done so at the end of the campaign period.

Najib said this was not true, and he had, figuratively speaking, receipts to prove it.

"But the Internet does not forget. The day he said Hajiji will be the chief minister of Sabah was Sept 12, 2020, which is the beginning of the Sabah polls campaign period," he posted on Facebook, along with screenshots of news articles to back up his claim.

He also challenged Muhyiddin's claim that Hajiji would be chief minister only if the Perikatan Nasional coalition won the most seats.

"Umno won 14 seats, PPBM (Bersatu) won 11 seats. But PPBM also became Sabah Chief Minister," he said.

Najib also said that Muhyiddin and Bersatu had been planning to destroy Umno by poaching its members.

"Why does Umno have to be friends with a party whose actual intention is to end Umno forever with a plan from the beginning to bribe and buy Umno members?" he said.