In what appears to be a reply to comments made by the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in Abeokuta last week, President Muhammadu Buhari has said there are many people who played parts, large and small, in his historic election victory in 2015.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, on Monday, Buhari, who didn’t mention Tinubu’s name specifically, said contributing to his election victory is not what should decide the next general election.
“It is perhaps not surprising that on the eve of the All Progressives Congress (APC) flagbearer primary there are those running as candidates who wish to associate themselves with the President’s rise to elected office seven years ago.
“There are many people who played parts large and small in his historic election in 2015, making history as the first opposition candidate to defeat a sitting president with power changing hands peacefully at the ballot box.
“There are those who advised the President to run again; those who decided to build a political party – the APC – that could finally be the political vehicle capable of delivering victory where all other opposition parties and alliances before it had failed.
“Those decisions may have been agreed upon by a few. But they were delivered by thousands and voted for by tens of millions. No one can or should claim to have made this possible.
“Yet as important as that moment was, it is not what should decide the next general election.
“What matters is the future: the policy platforms, the ideas, the drive, and the determination to take over the President’s stewardship of our country and build upon his legacy to make our country better than it has ever been.
“The person most demonstrable in those qualities is the one to lead our party and our country forward,” the statement read.
