From Ismail Omipidan and Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, has stirred up fresh political controversy by dismissing the insinuations in many quarters that President Bola Tinubu was highly instrumental to Mohammadu Buhari’s emergence as President in 2015 after the merger of other political parties that produced the All Progressives Congress (APC).
For the first time since 2022, when President Tinubu as a presidential aspirant, declared he made former President Buhari Nigeria’s President in 2015, the immediate past SGF dismissed the claims, stressing that the merger only produced three million votes, in addition to Buhari’s existing over 12 million votes in the North.
He insisted that President Buhari’s integrity, national stature and disciplined messaging were central to the breakthrough, not the insignificant three million votes from other merging parties.
On the role the merging parties, particularly President Tinubu, the leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), made in making Buhari the president, Mustapha, in his remarks, as keynote speaker at the Book Launch, According to the President, lessons from a presidential spokesman’s experience authored by Mallam Garba Shehu, who served as a presidential spokesman to Buhari, described the impact of the votes from other merging parties as insignificant.
“I do not intend to stir up any controversy. The merger in 2013 was midwife to create a Buhari presidency. Let us look at the statistics. In the 2003 election, it was the Obasanjo-Buhari presidential contest where Buhari recorded 2.7 million.
In the next election, he got 12.7 million votes. In 2007, it came to 6.6 million, it went back to 12.2 million in 2011.
“When we were conceptualising the merger, what will give us a headstart and obviously, it was at the back of our consciousness that the merger with the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), though it has only one state, the ACN has six states, ANPP three states, and when you sum up the total votes that we have as the presidency in 2015, the aggregate of the total votes was 15.4 million.
“So, basically, what we brought to the table after the merger, outside the Buhari 12.5 million votes, was three million. Before turning to that presidency, it is important to recognise the former President’s role in reshaping Nigeria’s political trajectory.
In early 2013, as the leader of the CPC, Buhari formally requested and supported the creation of a CPC merger committee, part of a broader coalition-building process that brought together the ACN, ANPP, APGA faction, and elements of the ruling party through the breakaway “new PDP” group.
His endorsement and participation, along with other party leaders such as President Tinubu and Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, lent credibility and direction to the merger, helping to unify disparate party factions under the banner of the APC.
That coalition-building paved the way for the first democratic defeat of an incumbent ruling party in Nigeria’s history.
“President Buhari’s integrity, national stature, and disciplined messaging were central to that breakthrough. No account of President Buhari’s tenure would be complete without acknowledging the extended periods he spent on medical leave. These moments, while politically delicate, were also telling of his leadership philosophy and personality,” he said.
In his remarks, President Tinubu promised to build on the legacies of former president Buhari, stressing that: “Nation-building is a relay. The efforts of one administration lay the foundation for the next.
“In this regard, I acknowledge the efforts of my predecessor, President Buhari, and assure all Nigerians that the reform-oriented path he initiated will be consolidated and strengthened under this administration.
“Our Renewed Hope Agenda is inspired by the desire to build a resilient, just and inclusive Nigeria – a nation that delivers dividends of democracy to all its citizens,” Tinubu assured.
In attendance were former Head of State, Yakuhu Gowon, who chaired the event, immediate past Vice President, Yemi Osimbajo, SGF George Akume, who represented President Tinubu, PDP 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, former Chief of Staff to Buhari, Ibrahim Gambari, elder statesman, Babagana Kingibe, former governors Mallam Nasir El-rufai, Kaduna, Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti, Chris Ngige, Anambra, Rauf Aregbesola, Osun, Raji Baba Fashola, former ministers Solomon Dalung, Sunday Dare, former Army Chief, Tukur Buratai and Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu’s spokesman among other.
