All Progressive Congress (APC), National Leader, Bola Tinubu, has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari would have lost the 2015 presidential election if not for his efforts.
Tinubu stated this recently while recalling his part in President Buhari’s election victory.
Speaking to party delegates at the Presidential Lodge in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Thursday, June 2, Tinubu who was accompanied by the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; the Kano State Governor, Umar Ganduje and former Borno State Governor, Kasim Shettima said, “If not for me that stood behind Buhari, he wouldn’t have become the President. He tried the first time, but he failed. The second time, he failed. The third, he failed,” Tinubu, one of the aspirants for the APC presidential ticket, told the delegates.
Furthermore, Tinubu said: “He even wept on national television and vowed never to contest again but I went to meet him in Kaduna and told him he will run again, I will stand by you and you will win, but you must not joke with Yorubas and he agreed.”
Tinubu also said that since Buhari became President, he has not benefited anything from him.
“Since he became the President, I have never gotten ministerial slots,” he said. “I didn’t collect any contract. Neither did I beg him for soup or garri. I have never begged for anything from him. It is the turn of Yoruba. And if it is the turn of the Yoruba, I am the most capable. It is my turn.”
In addition, Tinubu disclosed that he was instrumental to Osinbajo’e emergence as Vice President; even as he added that the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun could not have secured the position without him.
Since he became the President, I have never gotten ministerial slots,” he said. “I didn’t collect any contract. Neither did I beg him for soup or garri. I have never begged for anything from him. It is the turn of Yoruba. And if it is the turn of the Yoruba, I am the most capable. It is my turn.”
“This one sitting behind me here, could not have become governor without me? We were at the stadium, they tore all his posters. Even the party flag, they didn’t want to hand over it to him, I was the one who brought it.
“If he wants to meet God at the right place, he must know that he would not have become governor without God and me.”
Also, the former Governor of Lagos State revealed how Buhari wanted him to be Vice President, but he had insisted on his ambition for the presidency.
“Buhari wanted me to be his Vice President. He said because the first time he contested, he picked Chuba Okadigbo; a flamboyant, catholic, but Nigerians didn’t vote for him.
”The second time, he picked another Igbo, Edwin Ume-Ezeoke. Nigerians didn’t vote for him. He said that if he brought the Pope to run as his deputy, Nigerians would not vote for him. He said, ‘You, Bola Tinubu, you have six governors, you have never lost an election before. Come and be my running mate.
“He knew all the calculations then favoured us. That was why he wanted me as his running mate, but I told him to let us build the party first.
”When we finished building the party, we brought in people from the PDP. Saraki saw that those from the PDP would not get anything if Buhari, a Muslim becomes the President and me, also a Muslim becomes his deputy. He won’t become the Senate President and the Senate President could not also be a Muslim. That was how they started the campaign of calumny against me.
“I told them that I had a candidate that is a Christan that I could nominate so that the party would not break. That was how I nominated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. I surrendered my right to him.
“I was asked to submit three names: Yemi Cardozo, Wale Edun and Yemi Osinbajo. But I told them if I submitted three names, they would play a game. They may make it four and pick the fourth one. I gave them one name and that was Osinbajo,” Tinubu concluded.
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