Amaechi Disputes Tinubu’s Claim On Buhari’s 2015 Victory, Says He Led Campaign Efforts

By Sabiu Abdullahi

Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has rejected President Bola Tinubu’s claim that he was solely responsible for the emergence of late former President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential election.

Tinubu had repeatedly maintained that Buhari’s earlier failed attempts at the presidency ended only after he persuaded him to contest again and helped build the political coalition that secured victory in 2015. He also stated that Buhari would not have won without his intervention and support.

Amaechi, however, insisted that several key figures contributed to the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the eventual defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 election.

Speaking in an interview with AriseTV on Friday, Amaechi said he played a leading role in the campaign structure and political mobilisation that produced Buhari as president.

“When we decided to form the APC, while I was a minister, President Tinubu was claiming he made Buhari president, and I couldn’t respond because I was the minister under President Buhari,” Amaechi said in an interview with AriseTV on Friday.

He explained that his position at the time limited his response to public political disagreements.

“That will be suicidal because Buhari could fire you. So I couldn’t have said no then. He wasn’t the president. I couldn’t tell him, ‘You are wrong. You didn’t make President Buhari president’.

”Not only was I the DG of the campaign, but everybody will bear witness that I did all the battle.”

Amaechi further stated that he coordinated nationwide political engagements in his capacity as chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and as director-general of Buhari’s presidential campaign.

“I led the governors’ forum. I crisscrossed the country fighting here and there,” he said.

He also reflected on the performance of the APC-led administration after it came into power under the “change” slogan in 2015, noting that the results were mixed across different sectors.

“Did we achieve the change? Here and there. In some areas, well, we did. In some areas, we did not,” he said.