The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, has asserted that former President Muhammadu Buhari would not have secured the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket without the critical backing of President Bola Tinubu.
Ajayi’s statement comes in response to remarks made by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, during the launch of a book written by Mallam Garba Shehu, former Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Buhari.
At the book launch, Mustapha claimed that Buhari’s emergence as President was not the result of any one individual’s effort.
He noted that before the 2015 elections, Buhari had a solid 12.5 million-vote base, while the merger of legacy parties that formed the APC brought an additional three million votes—together amounting to the roughly 15 million votes that defeated then-incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Responding via his X handle, @TheTope_Ajayi, Ajayi dismissed Mustapha’s comments as a misrepresentation of recent political history.
“Let us even leave the general election that then-General Buhari won to become president in 2015. There is no way he would have won the election to be president without first becoming the presidential candidate of his party, APC,” Ajayi stated.
He went on to stress that Buhari would not have emerged victorious in the APC primary held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, in 2014 without Tinubu’s strategic involvement.
Ajayi credited Tinubu with rallying APC governors and South West delegates to back Buhari’s candidacy.
Ajayi added: “Every effort and support that made it possible for President Buhari to win should never be diminished. Buhari had his 12 million captive Northern votes, yet he lost three presidential elections in 2003, 2007, and 2011.”
Some political observers interpret recent developments—particularly actions by staunch Buhari allies like former Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai and former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN—as signs of internal opposition to Tinubu within the APC.
There are concerns among Tinubu’s supporters over Buhari’s perceived silence, as he has yet to publicly rein in el-Rufai and Malami, who are reportedly undermining Tinubu’s re-election prospects.
