Temitope Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, has said former President Muhammadu Buhari would not have secured the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket in 2015 without the support of President Bola Tinubu.
Ajayi made this statement in response to former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, who claimed Tinubu did not make Buhari President in 2015.
Posting on his X handle on Thursday, Ajayi argued that despite Buhari’s strong 12 million northern votes, he failed to win the presidential elections in 2003, 2007, and 2011. According to him, it was Tinubu’s intervention that changed the game in 2014.
He wrote:
“Let’s even leave the general election that Buhari won in 2015. There is no way he would have become President without first clinching the APC ticket.
“Buhari would not have won the APC primary election at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, in 2014 without Tinubu. Tinubu mobilised APC governors and South West delegates to support him.
“Boss Mustapha did a disservice to history with his comment at the book launch today. Every effort that made Buhari’s victory possible should not be diminished.
“Despite having his 12 million captive Northern votes, Buhari lost three presidential elections in 2003, 2007, and 2011.”
