Tinubu won 2023 election without Buhari’s full support – APC campaign spokesperson

Alwan Hassan, a spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, has said President Bola Tinubu won the 2023 presidential election despite not receiving the full political support of his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr Hassan made the claim on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he discussed Mr Tinubu’s chances of securing re-election in 2027.

Asked whether Mr Tinubu would benefit from the political structure and support base associated with Mr Buhari ahead of the next election, Mr Hassan questioned whether the former president had fully deployed his political influence in support of the APC candidate in 2023.

“Did he enjoy that in 2023? Did we enjoy Buhari’s support in 2023? Let the truth be told, we did not,” he said.

When asked whether he was suggesting that Mr Tinubu won the election on his own, Mr Hassan replied: “On his own. Buhari didn’t fully come out to support Tinubu.”

He accused Mr Buhari of failing to campaign actively for the APC candidate, adding that Mr Tinubu secured victory despite the former president’s alleged lack of support.

“Buhari didn’t do well in 2023. He didn’t actually come out to stand for us and stand for Asiwaju in 2023. Asiwaju won that election against all odds,” he stated.

Mr Hassan’s remark brings back the memories of the period leading up to the APC’s presidential primary election which Mr Tinubu was generally believed to have won without Mr Buhari’s backing.

Mr Buhari, who appeared to be undecided on whom to support in the crowded APC’s race at the time, gave conflicting signals, sometimes interpreted to mean a subtle objection to Mr Tinubu’s candidacy, and at another time, that he he had a secret choice he would unveil at the last moment.

Some of those, who participated in the primary election, Rotimi Amaechi, who was the transport minister, have publicly said Mr Buhari assured them they were his chosen candidate for the election and announce them at the appropriate time.

Mr Tinubu, in an apparent frustration about Mr Buhari’s lukewarmness towards his presidential aspiration, memorably lashed out during a political event in Abeokuta in Ogun State, where he recounted how he had helped Mr Buhari to become president but not getting support in return.

Mr Buhari never announced a candidate till the primary election won by Mr Tinubu was held.

However, Mr Buhari accpeted Mr Tinubu as soon as he emerged as APC’s candidate.

In November 2022, the former president endorsed the Tinubu-Shettima ticket at an APC rally in Jos, Plateau State, and urged party members to support the candidates.

At another campaign rally in Nasarawa State in February 2023, Mr Buhari pledged to continue campaigning for Mr Tinubu, describing him as a committed Nigerian.

On election day, 25 February 2023, Mr Buhari also disclosed that he had voted for the APC candidate after casting his ballot in Daura, Katsina State.

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However, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, had offered a different account of Mr Buhari’s position during the APC presidential primary.

In an interview reported by The Punch newspaper in July, Mr Lawal said Mr Buhari was initially reluctant to support Mr Tinubu’s emergence as the APC presidential candidate but eventually agreed to remain neutral and allow delegates to decide the outcome of the primary.

Mr Tinubu had played a prominent role in Mr Buhari’s emergence as president in 2015, campaigning for him and helping to mobilise support across the country.

The two politicians, however, faced tensions over political succession and the APC presidential ticket during the final months of the Buhari administration.