General Muhammadu Buhari was a Nigerian President for eight years and handed over in 2023. However, years after his tenure, there are debates on how he managed to defeat Goodluck Jonathan who was the sitting President in 2015.
Mr. Buhari, who had contested on different occasions and lost, defeated Jonathan with over 2 million votes in 2015. He had 15,424,921 votes as a APC candidate, while the then President Jonathan had 12,853,162 votes as Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate.
With the role the incumbent President played before and during the 2015 general election, many Nigerians believe in the statement ‘Bola Tinubu made Buhari the President’.
Some people, however, have a different opinion. Among the critics of the statement is Boss Mustapha, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), who recently rubbished the claim.
Buhari’s Integrity Won 2015 Election – Boss Mustapha Declares
In a recent statement, the former SGF said Nigerians voted for Buhari due to his integrity in 2015. He claimed that the popular assertion that Tinubu made Buhari the President is not only false, but also misleading.
He made this known while speaking at the book launch of ex-presidential aide Garba Shehu in Abuja.
“President Buhari’s integrity, national stature, and disciplined messaging were central to that breakthrough,” he stated.
According to him, Buhari already had millions of followers who gave him over 12 million votes before Tinubu came into the picture. Therefore, the few votes the former President got from the South-West due to Tinubu’s influence were inconsequential.
“In the 2003 elections, it was the Obasanjo-Buhari contest where Buhari recorded 2.7 million votes,” he said. He added that “in the next elections, he got 12.7 million votes. In 2007, it came to 6.6 million, then back to 12.2 million in 2011,” Mr Mustapha added.
Similarly, another member of Buhari’s administration, Lauretta Onochie, does not believe in the claim that Tinubu made Buhari the President. Mrs. Lauretta, who served as a Special Assistant (SA) to Buhari during his tenure as the President, supported Boss Mustapha’s statement.
In a post on her X account, she thanked Mr. Mustapha for being bold enough to say the truth. According to her, Tinubu did not even support Buhari to emerge as the APC presidential candidate ahead of the 2015 general election.
“Every Lie Has An Expiry Date. Yesterday, The Lie That @officialABAT Made @MBuhari President, expired,” she posted.
“Thank you, Boss Mustapha, for puncturing the lies of those unsuccessfully trying to rewrite history.
“Me: Tinubu DID NOT even support Buhari’s emergence as Candidate in 2014. Fact,” she added.
Meanwhile, these statements have been generating controversies among Nigerians, particularly members of President Tinubu’s cabinet. Many politicians who spoke about the contributions of President Tinubu to Buhari’s success in 2015 described Boss Mustapha as ungrateful.
Tinubu helped Buhari To Defeat Atiku And Kwankwaso – Presidency replies Boss Mustapha
The presidency has claimed that without Tinubu’s support, Buhari would not have become the APC presidential candidate in 2015. The presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, claimed that it would have been impossible for Buhari to defeat Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President and Rabiu Kwankwaso, a heavyweight politician, during the primary election.
In addition, Mr. Onanuga said Tinubu gave Buhari the geography spread he needed to become the President. Therefore, the incumbent President played an unforgettable role during the election.
“Tinubu also ensured that Buhari won the APC ticket, defeating the challenges from Atiku and Kwankwaso,” he said.
“He gave Buhari what had been missing in his constant 12 million votes: geographical spread and additional votes from the South West,” he added in a post on his X account.
Similarly, other prominent members of the ruling party have condemned the position of Boss Mustapha regarding the 2015 election.
Mustapha Lacks Knowledge Of What Happened In 2015 – Osita Okechukwu Claims
In his reaction, an ally of former President Muhammadu Buhari, Osita Okechukwu, criticised Mustapha’s statement. He claimed that the former SGF knows nothing about events that happened before Buhari could become the President.
According to him, Mustapha was not with Buhari during the years he contested and lost. He explained that Buhari lost in 2011 because he failed to work with Tinubu and won when the collaboration between them worked in 2015.
“In 2011, our initial merger talks with Tinubu’s ACN failed and Buhari lost. But when we rekindled the talks and successfully merged in 2013, it led to the golden victory votes that propelled Buhari to power,” he said.
According to him, the statement that Tinubu made Buhari the President is true because without him, the former President would not have defeated Goodluck Jonathan.
He added that “truly, without Asiwaju’s premium supplementary votes, there would have been no two-thirds spread and no victory.”
