* ‘I nominated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. I surrendered my right to him’
THE All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has laid the claim that he was indeed, the major force behind the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
It was the first time he would publicly make the claim, and his tone bore the weight of one who is disappointed in not being duly acknowledged, and rewarded for the role he played.
Tinubu, who addressed the APC delegates in Abeokuta, Ogun State, yesterday, made it clear, that he led the political onslaught that yielded the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015.
Speaking in Yoruba amid cheers by his supporters, Tinubu recalled how then General Buhari had tried unsuccessfully on three occasions and how he failed each time, until he, Tinubu, stepped in, and ensured that he emerged the president in 2015.
Tinubu outbursts comes in the wake of what is perceived as a deepening rift between the two leaders of the ruling APC – Buhari and Tinubu — over the choice of the party’s candidate for the 2023 elections.
President Buhari had earlier in the week, before he jetted out to Spain, summoned a meeting of the Progressive Governors on the platform of the APC, where he appealed to them to support him in choosing his successor.
This has been interpreted in political pundits to mean that the president was pushing for a consensus candidate which may not favour Tinubu’s candidacy.
At the meeting in Abeokuta yesterday, an obviously angry Tinubu stated: “If not for me that stood behind Buhari he wouldn’t have become the president.”
“He tried the first time, he failed, the second time, he failed, the third, he failed, 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.
“Since he became the president, I have never got ministerial slots, I didn’t collect any contract, I have never begged for anything from him. This time, it’s Yoruba turn and, if you think of the Yoruba time, it is my turn.”
The former Lagos State governor also revealed how he nominated Yemi Osinbajo as Buhari’s running mate in 2014.
He said Buhari had offered him a running mate ticket, but some blocs opposed the move, citing the danger of fielding two Moslems as the party’s candidates in the general elections.
“Since the time we started with the Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and now the All Progressives Congress (APC), I wanted to contest for president that time.
“This is me telling you between my life and God Almighty, Buhari called me to be his Vice President. He said because the first time he contested, he picked Okadigbo, a flamboyant Catholic, but Nigerians didn’t vote for him.
“The second time, he picked another Igbo, Ume-Ezeoke, Nigerians didn’t vote for him. He knows that even if he goes to bring the Pope to run as his vice, Nigerians won’t vote for him. So he said, ‘you, Bola Tinubu, you have six governors, you have never lost an election before, come and be my vice.
“He knew all the calculations then favoured us, that was why he wanted me as his vice, but I told him to let us build the party first.
“And when we finished building the party, after we brought in people from the PDP, Saraki knew that those from the PDP will not get anything if Buhari, a Muslim, becomes the president and me, also a Muslim, becomes his vice. He knew he won’t get the Senate President because the Senate President cannot also be a Muslim; that was how they started the campaign of calumny against me.
“I told them that I have a candidate that is a Christian that I can nominate so that the party will not break, that was how I nominated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. I surrendered my right to him (Osinbajo).”
Tinubu also declared that the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, would not have emerged in the 2019 election without his support
“If the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, will be fair enough, he will confirm that, if not for God and me, he will never become governor in this state.
“We were together at the MKO Abiola Stadium, he was intimidated, they didn’t want to give him the party’s flag, I was the one that handed the flag to him. He knows that he cannot be the governor without the help of God and my support. It has been over 25 years now that I have been serving them.”
Abiodun had earlier declared his support for Osinbajo, who is an indigene of the state, and from same Ijebu stock.
He, however, told Tinubu, whom he described as a political warrior, serial winner, and strategist, that delegates from the state would do “the right thing” at the convention.
Addressing the delegates, Tinubu, who had earlier met with delegates in Ibadan, capital city of Oyo state, said:
“It is my time, I’m educated, I’m experienced. I have been serving you for a long time, bring me the presidency, bring it, it is my turn.”
“When Atiku was being flogged out of PDP by Obasanjo, he ran to me for help, I left the ticket for him. Nuhu Ribadu came to me and I backed him.”
Tinubu was accompanied to Ogun State by Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his Kano State counterpart, Abdullahi Ganduje, and former Borno State governor, Kasim Shettima and other heavyweights of the APC.
