A former ally of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, Hon. Farouk Aliyu, has disagreed with former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, over the role played by President Bola Tinubu in Buhari’s 2015 presidential win.
Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels TV programme aired on Thursday, Aliyu insisted that Tinubu was a key figure in Buhari’s success, saying the former Lagos governor provided the needed political structure and support to push Buhari to victory.
This reaction comes after Mustapha had claimed during a book launch in Abuja on Wednesday that Tinubu did not make Buhari president, arguing that Buhari already had a consistent support base of 12 million votes before the APC merger.
But Aliyu dismissed that claim, stating that while Buhari’s base was strong, it was never enough to win the presidency until the alliance with Tinubu in 2015.
“My senior brother, Boss Mustapha, got it wrong,” Aliyu said. “Some people trying to rewrite history were not even part of Buhari’s struggle at the beginning.”
Aliyu, who served as Buhari’s returning officer during the APC presidential primaries in Lagos in 2014, said Tinubu’s support behind the scenes and during the party formation was critical to Buhari becoming the APC flag bearer and winning the presidential election.
He noted that without Tinubu’s political structure in the South-West and his strategic input, Buhari’s long-standing ambition might not have materialised.
Responding to suggestions that Buhari did not support Tinubu in the 2023 election, Aliyu said the former president did not sabotage APC’s victory, even though he had the power to do so if he wanted.
“If Buhari wanted APC to lose, he had the means, but he did not,” Aliyu said, defending Buhari’s actions during the 2023 polls.
The exchange reflects ongoing tensions within the APC and between key figures over who deserves credit for the party’s historic 2015 victory that ended the PDP’s 16-year rule.