Without mentioning Tinubu by name, the statement from the presidency read in part, “As important as that moment (2015 election) was, it is not what should decide the next general election.”
By Emma ogbuehi
The brewing cold war between President Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State, continued on Monday, few hours to the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primaries.
Tinubu, a frontline presidential aspirant had said last week in Abeokuta that without him, Buhari would not have become president in 2015, having tried three times and failed until he came to his rescue.
That obviously did no sit well with the presidency.
Reacting on Monday, the presidency said no single person should claim the glory of President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in 2015.
Besides, the presidency also reiterated that even as momentous as the events of 2015 were, they should not decide the outcome of the 2023 elections.
The presidency in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said Buhari’s victory in 2015 was a collective effort and not what a single person should claim the glory.
Without mentioning Tinubu by name, the statement read in part, “It is perhaps not surprising that on the eve of the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag-bearer primary, there are those running as candidates 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.”
