Buhari to Tinubu: No One Individual Can Claim Credit for My 2015 Victory

Deji Elumoye

The presidency has cleared the air about the electoral victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential poll, saying no individual should claim the glory of the president’s victory seven years ago.

The presidency’s reaction came on the heels of comments credited to the former governor of Lagos State and All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant, Mr. Bola Tinubu, last Thursday in Abeokuta, that he almost single-handedly made Buhari win the election in 2015, after three failed attempts by the president.

In a statement yesterday by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the presidency said Buhari’s victory in 2015 was a collective interest and not what a single person should claim the glory.

The statement added, “It is, perhaps, not surprising that on the eve of the APC primary, there are those running who wish to associate themselves with the president’s rise to elected office seven years ago.

“There are many people who played parts large and small in his historic election in 2015, making history as the first opposition candidate to defeat a sitting president, with power changing hands peacefully at the ballot box.

“There are those who advised the president to run again; those who decided to build a political party – the APC – that could finally be the political vehicle capable of delivering victory where all other opposition parties and alliances before it had failed.

“Those decisions may have been agreed upon by a few. But they were delivered by thousands and voted for by tens of millions. No one can or should claim to have made this possible.

“Yet as important as that moment was, it is not what should decide the next general election.

“What matters is the future: the policy platforms, the ideas, the drive, and the determination to take over the president’s stewardship of our country and build upon his legacy to make our country better than it has ever been.

“The person most demonstrable in those qualities is the one to lead our party and our country forward.”

In a clear sign of desperation and fear that the presidential ticket of the APC might be slipping from his grasp, Tinubu had declared, unequivocally, that he made Buhari President of Nigeria, nominated Professor Yemi Osinbajo as his running mate, and got Mr. Dapo Abiodun elected as Governor of Ogun State.

Tinubu then insisted it was his turn to be president.