Farouk Aliyu, a former ally of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, has strongly refuted claims by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, regarding President Bola Tinubu's contribution to Buhari's 2015 electoral victory.
Speaking on Channels Television's 'Politics Today' program on Thursday, Aliyu dismissed Mustapha's assertion that Tinubu did not play a significant role in making Buhari president.
"My senior brother, Boss Mustapha, certainly got it wrong because I can't even remember where he was at that time," Aliyu stated firmly. "Unfortunately, there are many of these Buhari converts who were not with Buhari. I don't want to mention names but most of them happened by accident or fate to become what they became, and they are now trying to deconstruct history. It is not true."
Aliyu emphasized that while Buhari consistently maintained a base of 12 million votes in previous elections, this support alone had never been sufficient to secure presidential victory until the 2015 alliance with Tinubu.
The former Buhari ally revealed he served as the returning officer for Buhari during the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary in Lagos that led to Buhari's emergence as the party's flag bearer. He highlighted the crucial behind-the-scenes support that Tinubu provided throughout that process.
Addressing claims that Buhari did not reciprocate Tinubu's support ahead of the 2023 election, Aliyu argued that if the former president had wanted to sabotage the APC's victory, he had numerous tools at his disposal but chose not to use them.
"If Muhammadu Buhari did not want APC to win the election, he would have done several things to ensure that they don't win," he affirmed.
BenriNews reports that Mustapha, during a book launch in Abuja on Wednesday, had claimed that Tinubu did not make Buhari president. According to Mustapha, the former president already had an established support base of 12 million votes, and the merger of legacy parties that formed the APC only added approximately three million more votes.
This public disagreement highlights ongoing tensions within Nigeria's political landscape as different factions attempt to shape the narrative around the formation of the APC and its rise to power in 2015.
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