Former special adviser to the president on political matters Babafemi Ojudu has claimed that President Bola Tinubu outmaneuvered his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari to clinch the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket in 2022.
Speaking on Edmund Obilo’s podcast State Affairs on Monday, Senator Ojudu said Buhari did not support Tinubu or his Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, during the APC primaries. Instead, Buhari allegedly backed then-Senate President Ahmad Lawan.
Ojudu said that Osinbajo’s failure to secure the APC ticket was largely due to Buhari’s lack of endorsement and mobilisation.
“I knew Osinbajo was going to lose the primary, I saw it coming. Because of the system we operated and still operating, I kept saying at our meeting that all of the efforts we are making like traveling around, convincing people and addressing delegates is only 40 percent.
“60 percent of it lies in Buhari’s hands unless and until Buhari mobilises people around him, the governors, his aides, we are going nowhere,” he said.
Ojudu further stated, “I used to refer to Buhari as a one-man majority and he never mobilised his team towards Osinbajo and I think Tinubu outsmarted him in so many different ways.”
Despite the speculation surrounding Buhari’s preference for Lawan, Tinubu emerged victorious with a landslide.
Tinubu got 1,271 votes, former transport minister Rotimi Amaechi had 316 votes, Osinbajo got 235 votes while Lawan bagged 152 votes.
