How Tinubu Convinced Ex-President Obasanjo To Accept Buhari As Presidential Candidate In 2015 –Akande

Bisi Akande, the Pioneer National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, who recently unveiled his memoirs, My Participations, has revealed that former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, tried to convince former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, before he threw his weight behind Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

Akande in his book launched in Lagos on Thursday, said Tinubu had to tell Obasanjo to speak to Buhari as former military generals on his thoughts about the latter's ambition.

He said, “It got to a point when Bola Tinubu had to confront him (Obasanjo) thus; ‘It is not fair sending me to Buhari. Buhari was a soldier and he was one of your junior officers in the army. Why don’t you call Buhari and let him know how you feel about his intention to be president?

“I don’t know whether Obasanjo stopped at it. From the start, he (Obasanjo) did not want Buhari to be president.”

Akande also spoke about opposition to Buhari from some quarters in the North.

He said, “It was apparent from the start that Buhari would be our choice for president. That was one of the bases for the merger. However, there were pressures from the elites, especially from the North, including royal fathers, piling pressure on us not to allow Buhari be our presidential candidate.

“A prominent aristocratic leader from the North stayed several nights in Osogbo, persuading Governor Aregbesola to prevail on us not to field Buhari. He threatened that if we did, there would be trouble in the North.

“Buhari had been losing elections before because he had no structure to harness his support and transform it into votes.

“Now through the APC, we had created a formidable structure for him; bigger and better than that of any other party in Nigerian history.”