Temitope Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, has pushed back against former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, over his recent claim that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu played no decisive role in Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s emergence as President in 2015.<\/p>\n
In a social media post, Ajayi asserted that while Buhari indeed had a strong base of \u201c12 million captive Northern votes,\u201d he failed to win the presidency in three successive elections\u20142003, 2007, and 2011\u2014before the game-changing events of 2015. Ajayi argued that Buhari\u2019s success that year was largely due to the strategic support and political machinery of then-APC national leader, Bola Tinubu.<\/p>\n
Citing the pivotal All Progressives Congress (APC) primary held at Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos in 2014, Ajayi said Tinubu was instrumental in rallying APC governors and South West delegates behind Buhari. \u201cThere is no way Buhari could have become president without first winning the APC presidential ticket,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAnd he wouldn\u2019t have won that primary without Tinubu\u2019s backing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ajayi accused Mustapha of distorting recent political history, calling his remarks at the book launch of According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson\u2019s Experience\u2014a memoir by Garba Shehu<\/strong>\u2014\u201ca disservice.\u201d He emphasized that \u201cevery effort and support that made Buhari\u2019s victory possible should never be diminished.\u201d<\/p>\n Mustapha, speaking at the event, had downplayed Tinubu\u2019s role, insisting that Buhari\u2019s victory was rooted in his personal political capital. \u201cWhen you sum up the total votes that gave us victory in 2015\u201415.4 million\u2014Buhari already had 12.2 million. The other legacy parties, including Tinubu\u2019s ACN, contributed only about 3.2 million votes,\u201d Mustapha stated.<\/p>\n However, critics quickly dismissed Mustapha\u2019s comments as both \u201cungracious and self-serving,\u201d noting that Buhari\u2019s previous attempts had all ended in failure until the formation of the APC coalition, spearheaded by Tinubu and other key figures. They added that in the 2015 general election, the People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP) polled 12,853,162 votes\u2014more than Buhari\u2019s pre-coalition base of 12.2 million\u2014indicating that without the APC alliance, Buhari would have lost again.<\/p>\n Despite the political undercurrent, the event itself celebrated Garba Shehu\u2019s memoir and drew a high-powered audience. President Tinubu, represented by current SGF Senator George Akume, commended Buhari\u2019s contributions to nation-building and pledged to sustain and build upon his legacy. \u201cNation building is a relay,\u201d Tinubu said. \u201cThe effort of one administration lays the foundation for the next.\u201d<\/p>\n Former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon (retd) praised Buhari\u2019s steady leadership, while Professor Ibrahim Gambari, former Chief of Staff to the President, used the platform to advocate for a more deliberate and thoughtful process in selecting Nigeria\u2019s future leaders.<\/p>\n Former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo led a delegation of officials from the Buhari administration and described Garba Shehu as a loyal and consistent voice who shaped the administration\u2019s messaging during turbulent periods. \u201cThis book is more than a memoir; it\u2019s a historical record written from the trenches of governance,\u201d Osinbajo said.<\/p>\n Femi Adesina, also a former presidential spokesperson, hailed Shehu\u2019s calm under pressure and unwavering loyalty. Shehu himself said the memoir offers a candid, behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of presidential communication and provides lessons for future government communicators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Temitope Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, has pushed back against former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, over his recent claim that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu played no decisive role in Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s emergence as President in 2015. In a social media post, Ajayi asserted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":64174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[7198,31,56],"class_list":["post-94400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-politics","tag-boss","tag-buhari","tag-tinubu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/64174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}