Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF),
Babachir Lawal, has claimed that President Bola Tinubu played a central role in
the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC), funded key aspects of
Muhammadu Buhari’s successful 2015 presidential campaign and even shelved his
own presidential ambition to ensure the opposition defeated the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP).
Lawal, who made the claims during an interview on Symfoni TV
released on Saturday, however, said Tinubu’s current administration had fallen
short of expectations, describing it as “a failure” and accusing those in
government of prioritising personal interests over the nation’s welfare.
According to the former SGF, Buhari entrusted him with
facilitating talks between the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and
Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) because of his close relationship
with the current president.
“I was in Dubai when you called me that I should come out
because we want to do a merger with the ACN. And I told you, sir, this role you
want me to play, I cannot play it… So Buhari said, You are the only one that
can help us do this merger because Bola is your friend,” Lawal recalled.
He said Tinubu agreed to suspend his own presidential
ambition to unite the opposition and remove the PDP from power.
“BD, you know my ambition to be president. But the way the
country is going, the primary goal is to get rid of PDP. I will defer my
ambition, put it aside until we achieve this goal,” Lawal quoted Tinubu as
saying.
Lawal also credited Tinubu with securing crucial South-West
support for Buhari at the APC presidential primary after reviewing delegates’
voting strength.
“I said, sir, look at it. I have this data… This man
(Buhari), whether he is on the ballot or not, normally gets 12 million votes
from the north. So it required three more million votes… Sir, why not support
your winning ticket?” Lawal recalled telling Tinubu.
He continued, “He (Tinubu) saw the logic and persuaded them
with the argument. And coming from Tinubu, of course… So at the last minute,
around 4 a.m., they agreed that they were going to support Buhari.”
The former SGF further alleged that Tinubu financed major
aspects of the APC’s 2015 presidential campaign from his personal resources,
including funding campaign activities for then vice-presidential candidate Yemi
Osinbajo.
“Through him (Tinubu), we were able to raise sufficient
funds to do the campaign.
“Not only did he do that, Osinbajo’s portion of the
campaign; he funded it, hired a chartered plane… Tinubu was funding it.”
“Osinbajo on his own was a pastor. His ethnic nationalities
and Christians had some doubts about Buhari. He was on that side.
“He wasn’t in our own area, and he was just operating
semi-independently of the main campaign. Tinubu was funding it,” Lawal said.
He also claimed Tinubu hired American political consultants
linked to former US President Barack Obama to strengthen the APC’s campaign
strategy, alleging that more than N2 billion was spent on the consultants.
“I don’t know their names. I just know that they were Obama
people, and they came, and they transformed our campaign, and I knew that the
money he paid them was in excess of two billion naira, equivalent in dollars,”
he said.
Lawal said Tinubu routinely paid for major campaign expenses
himself instead of relying on the campaign’s central purse.
“If there’s a need for an expenditure, no matter how
massive, he doesn’t come to the campaign purse; he spends from his own purse.”
Despite praising Tinubu’s generosity before he became
president, Lawal said the current administration had failed Nigerians.
“The people running the government don’t seem to be people
who love the country. They are people who love themselves. Everybody is bitter
that life is tough.”
He added, “Suddenly, I don’t know what has happened; he has
lost his soul… Having come to this government, he has lost his soul.”
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