For the first time, a leading presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has reminded President Muhammadu Buhari that without him, he would never have won the election in 2015.
In a feat of rage, Tinubu said he singlehandedly made both Prof Yemi Osinbajo, Buhari’s running mate and Dapo Abiodun, Ogun State Governor.
Tinubu, who appears to be in a war mode, made these remarks in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital where his closest challenger, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo hails from.
Daily Trust reports that, Tinubu was in the company of the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his Kano counterpart, Umar Ganduje, and former Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima.
Tinubu made the revelations for the first time in Ogun, home state of Osinbajo, one of his rivals for the APC presidential ticket.
He said Buhari had offered him a running mate ticket, but some blocs rose against him, fanning the ember of a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
The former governor also said when he was asked to submit three names for running mate, he pencilled down Yemi Cardoso, Wale Edun and Yemi Osinbajo.
He added that he later settled for Osinbajo as running mate.
“You have not heard this from me before. This is the first place I am saying this,” Tinubu who addressed the delegates in Yoruba said.
Speaking on Buhari’s emergence, he said, “If not me that led the war front, Buhari wouldn’t have emerged. He contested first, second and third time, but lost. He even said on television that he won’t contest again.
“But I went to his home in Katsina. I told him you would contest and win, but you won’t joke with the matters of the Yorubas. Since he has emerged, I have not been appointed minister. I didn’t get contract.
“This time, it’s Yoruba turn and in Yorubaland, it’s my tenure.”
Tinubu also said without God and him, Governor Dapo Abiodun would not have emerged in 2019 election.
“Dapo that’s sitting down here, could he have become Governor without me? We were at the stadium, they tore all his posters. Even the party flag, they didn’t want to hand it over to him, I was the one who brought it.
“If he wants to meet God at the right place, he must know that without God and me, he would not have become Governor.”
In his remarks, Abiodun who had earlier declared his support for Osinbajo’s candidature, refused to endorse Tinubu.
He told Tinubu that delegates from the state would do “the right thing” at the convention.
Abiodun described Tinubu as a political warrior, serial winner and strategist.