Bola Tinubu, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), recalled his role in President Muhammadu Buhari’s rise to power in 2015, claiming that the Katsina-born leader would have lost the election if not for his efforts.
Tinubu made the comment on Thursday while addressing party delegates at the Presidential Lodge in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
“If not for me that stood behind Buhari, he wouldn’t have become the President. He tried the first time, he failed. The second time, he failed. The third, he failed,” Tinubu, one of the frontline aspirants for the APC presidential ticket, told the delegates.
“He even wept on national television and vowed never to contest again but I went to meet him in Kaduna and told him he will run again, I will stand by you and you will win, but you must not joke with Yorubas and he agreed.”
The former governor of Lagos State said since Buhari became President, he has not benefited anything from him.
“Since he became the President, I have never gotten ministerial slots,” he said. “I didn’t collect any contract, I have never begged for anything from him. It is the turn of Yoruba, it is my turn.”
According to him, he had wanted to be the country’s president since his days in the Action Congress (ACN), noting his role in the political careers of several Nigerian leaders including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
“He knew all the calculations then favoured us. That is why he wanted me as his vice but I told him to let us build the party first. And when we finished building the party. After we brought in people from the PDP, Saraki now saw those from the PDP will not get anything if Buhari, a Muslim, becomes the President and if me, also a Muslim becomes his vice, he won’t get the Senate President and the Senate President cannot also be a Muslim. That was how they started the campaign of calumny against me,” Tinubu explained.
“I told them that I have a candidate that is a Christan that I can nominate so that the party will not break. That was how I nominated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. I surrendered my right to him
“I was asked to submit three names, Yemi Cardozo, Wale Edun, and Yemi Osinbajo.”
He also told the delegates about his role in the election of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, saying with his political experience in the last 25 years, he deserves to be given the chance to lead Nigeria.
“Dapo that’s sitting down here, could he have become Governor without me? We were at the stadium, they tore all his posters. Even the party flag, they didn’t want to hand over it to him. I was the one who brought it.
“If he wants to meet God at the right place, he must know that without God and me, he would not have become Governor.”