The Presidency, Thursday night, punctured comments made by a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, on the contribution of President Bola Tinubu to the 2015 electoral victory of former President Muhammadu Buhari, describing the former SGF’s claims as a disservice to recent political history.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Tope Ajayi, issued a rebuttal via his verified X handle, @TheTope_Ajayi, stating that President Tinubu’s influence was pivotal to Buhari’s emergence not just as a presidential candidate but ultimately as president.
The presidential media aide’s reaction followed Mustapha’s remarks at the public presentation of “According to Mr. President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesman’s Experience” — a memoir by former presidential spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu — where the former SGF claimed that the merger which birthed the All Progressives Congress (APC) contributed only three million votes to the 15.4 million total votes that resulted in Buhari’s victory.
Ajayi, however, faulted the assertion, saying it was an unfortunate and revisionist take on one of the most significant political shifts in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic.
According to him: “Former SGF Boss Mustapha did a disservice to our recent history with that unnecessary glib at the book launch today.”
He stressed that regardless of the eventual 2015 general election, Buhari would never have stood as the APC’s presidential candidate without the intervention and influence of then-national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu.
He stated: “There is no way he (Buhari) would have won the election to be president without first becoming the presidential candidate of his party APC.
“General Buhari would not have won the APC primary election at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, in 2014 without President Tinubu, who mobilised the APC governors and the South West delegates to move Buhari’s way.”
Ajayi’s insisted that President Tinubu played a central role in uniting the different blocs that formed the APC, and in securing support for Buhari across the South-West — a region previously elusive to the former military ruler.
He further pointed out that despite Buhari’s strong base in the North, which routinely gave him 12 million votes in previous contests, he failed in three presidential elections — in 2003, 2007, and 2011 — until the 2015 coalition galvanised new national appeal.
“Every effort and support that made it possible for President Buhari to win should never be diminished,” Ajayi added, insisting that Tinubu’s role in achieving that milestone must be recognised for what it truly was — decisive.
“The 2015 election marked a watershed in Nigerian democracy, being the first time an incumbent president was defeated at the polls.
“APC’s victory was largely attributed to the strategic merger of major opposition parties — including Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and factions of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP).”
Deji Elumoye
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