Tinubu: Buhari wouldn’t have emerged president without me

President-Elect Bola Tinubu

The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and presidential aspirant, Bola Tinubu, says President Muhammadu Buhari would not have won the 2015 presidential election if not for his intervention.

Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, said he led the political struggle that produced the President in 2015, adding that he also nominated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as Buhari’s running mate.

He added that it is his turn to become the President of the country.

The presidential aspirant said these in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital on Thursday while addressing APC delegates ahead of the party’s primaries.

Buhari emerged as the President of the country in 2015 defeating former President Goodluck Jonathan.

He was re-elected for a second term in office in 2019 after he defeated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.

Speaking on Thursday, Tinubu said: “You have not heard this from me before. This is the first place I am saying this.

“If not me that led the war front, Buhari wouldn’t have emerged. He contested first, second and third times, but lost. He even said on television that he won’t contest again.

“But I went to his home in Katsina. I told him you would contest and win, but you won’t joke with the matters of the Yorubas. Since he has emerged I have not been appointed minister. I didn’t get contract.

“This time, it’s Yoruba turn and in Yorubaland, it’s my tenure,” the presidential aspirant stated.

Tinubu added that without God and him, Governor Dapo Abiodun would not have emerged as governor in 2019.

“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,” the presidential hopeful said.

In his remarks, the governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, who had earlier declared his support for Osinbajo’s candidature, refused to endorse Tinubu.

Abiodun told Tinubu that delegates from the state would do “the right thing” at the presidential primaries of the APC slated for June 6 to 8, 2022.

Among those who accompanied Tinubu were Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje; his Lagos State counterpart, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; former Borno State Governor, Kasim Shettima; Sen. Tokunbo Abiru; Sen. Adesoji Akanbi; Sen. Abdulfatai Buhari and the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa.

The Star