Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has claimed that President Bola Tinubu played a central role in the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC), funded key aspects of Muhammadu Buhari’s successful 2015 presidential campaign and even shelved his own presidential ambition to ensure the opposition defeated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Lawal, who made the claims during an interview on Symfoni TV released on Saturday, however, said Tinubu’s current administration had fallen short of expectations, describing it as “a failure” and accusing those in government of prioritising personal interests over the nation’s welfare. According to the former SGF, Buhari entrusted him with facilitating talks between the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) because of his close relationship with the current president.
“I was in Dubai when you called me that I should come out because we want to do a merger with the ACN. And I told you, sir, this role you want me to play, I cannot play it… So Buhari said, You are the only one that can help us do this merger because Bola is your friend,” Lawal recalled. He said Tinubu agreed to suspend his own presidential ambition in order to unite the opposition and remove the PDP from power.
“BD, you know my ambition to be president. But the way the country is going, the primary goal is to get rid of PDP. I will defer my ambition, put it aside until we achieve this goal,” Lawal quoted Tinubu as saying.
Lawal also credited Tinubu with securing crucial South-West support for Buhari at the APC presidential primary after reviewing delegates’ voting strength. I have this data… This man (Buhari), whether he is on the ballot or not, normally gets 12 million votes from the north. So it required three more million votes… Sir, why not support your winning ticket?” Lawal recalled telling Tinubu.
He continued, “He (Tinubu) saw the logic and persuaded them with the argument. And coming from Tinubu, of course… So at the last minute, around 4 a.m., they agreed that they were going to support Buhari.” The former SGF further alleged that Tinubu financed major aspects of the APC’s 2015 presidential campaign from his personal resources, including funding campaign activities for then vice-presidential candidate Yemi Osinbajo.
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