•Says ACN, CPC, other merger parties brought 3 million votes
•Buhari administration stood on pillars of integrity —Tinubu
FORMER Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, has declared that the All Progressives Congress (APC) leveraged on the political stature of former President, Muhammadu Buhari and the popularity of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to defeat the erstwhile ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015.
Mustapha gave the narrative on Wednesday at the public presentation of “According to The President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesman Experience,” a book written by former presidential spokesperson to President Buhari, Garba Shehu.
Contrary to insinuations that the leader of the ACN and incumbent President, Bola Tinubu galvanised forces that ensured the formation of the APC and its ultimate victory in 2015, the former SGF declared to the gathering that Buhari was the rallying point, on the strength of his political stature and followership.
Mustapha who admitted that the CPC controlled only one state while the APC was being formed maintained that the votes that delivered victory for APC came from the CPC and followers of Buhari.
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He said: “I do not intend to stir up any controversy. The merger in 2013, was midwived to create a Buhari Presidency. Let us look at the statistics. In the 2003 election, it was the Obasanjo-Buhari presidential contest where Buhari recorded 2.7 million. In the next election, he got 12.7 million votes. In 2007, it came to 6.6 million, it went back to 12.2 million in 2011.
“When we were conceptualising the merger, what will give us a head start and obviously, it is at the back of our consciousness that the merger with the CPC, though it has only one state, the ACN has six states, ANPP three states, and when you sum up the total votes that gave us the presidency in 2015, the aggregate of the total votes was 15.4 million. So, basically, what we brought to the table after the merger outside the Buhari 12.5 million votes was three million.”
President Tinubu, represented by Secretary to Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume described the memoir as a compelling and sincere documentation of the Buhari administration.
He said: “Mallam Garba Shehu has done more than tell a story. He has captured a legacy. He has put forward a chronicle that provides context and clarity to the policy directions, governing principles and leadership philosophy of a man whose disciplined and unwavering sense of duty left a significant imprint on our nation’s governance architecture.
“Former President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, is a man whose leadership stood on the pillars of integrity, accountability, prudence as well as patriotism. Under his stewardship, Nigeria witnessed a decisive push to confront insecurity, a serious commitment to infrastructure renewal, a renewed focus on self-reliance and a clear effort to sanitise the public sector. These themes resonate strongly in this book and must be appreciated in their full historic dimensions.
“From the restoration of fiscal discipline to the diversification of the economy, from the development of critical national infrastructure to the transformation of our rail and road networks, and from the expansion of social investment programmes to the repositioning of the agricultural sector, President Buhari’s era reflected an earnest attempt to reposition Nigeria for future resilience.”
Former military Head of State and Chairman of the occasion, Yakubu Gowon, commended Mallam Sheu for writing the book, which he described as an “invaluable and compelling work.”
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