Saraki, El-Rufai instigated Buhari not to pick me as VP –Tinubu
A National Leader of the All
Progressives Congress , Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu , has alleged that Senate
President Bukola Saraki and the
Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir
el- Rufai, worked against the plan to
make him President Muhammadu
Buhari’s running mate in the 2015
presidential election.
Tinubu stated that Saraki, El - Rufai and
other stalwarts of the Peoples
Democratic Party , who defected to the
APC in the build - up to the 2015
elections, instigated Buhari and some
APC chieftains not to pick him as the
would- be Vice - President.
The APC leader ’ s comments were
contained in a book titled ‘Against the
Run of Play , ’ written by the Chairman ,
Editorial Board of ThisDay, Olusegun
Adeniyi.
Tinubu , the former governor of Lagos
State , said his opponents persuaded
Buhari to look for another running
mate on the grounds that Christians in
the North would not embrace a
Muslim- Muslim ticket , and as such ,
could jeopardise the party ’s victory .
The former governor said the
arguments put forward by the party
members were not genuine, adding
that El - Rufai had the intention to
ensure the emergence of the Serving
Overseer of The Latter Rain Assembly ,
Pastor Tunde Bakare , Buhari’s
running mate .,
Tinubu added, “ What they (Saraki and3a
others from the PDP ) did behind my
back was wrong. We always do things
as a group. By the time they joined , we
were already too far ahead in our
processes but we accommodated them .
“ We agreed to take their state
structures and subsume them into the
part and they all had their opportunity
to nominate the candidates of their
choices for different political offices.
“ But they went behind to instigate
Buhari and some other people in the
party against me on the pretext of
religion. That was not right . They were
canvassing arguments that the
Christians in the North would not vote
for a Muslim - Muslim ticket .
“ Nasir el- Rufai was also selling the
same argument within the CPC (the
defunct Congress for Progressive
Change) because at that point , he still
wanted to have Pastor Bakare brought
in as Buhari ’s running mate .”
Tinubu stated that some senators and
governors then , who defected from the
PDP to the APC , met with him on the
eve of the primaries to know if there
was an agreement between him and
Buhari to run together .
He said he evaded the inquiry, which
compelled the allies to join him in
canvassing for Buhari as the right
presidential candidate of the party .
“ I told them that it was better to
resolve such issue after the primaries ,
but they wanted to make it a condition
for supporting Buhari , which , for me,
was very wrong . I told them I could
not insist on this as a condition for my
support for Buhari. I felt that was not
right to hold Buhari hostage in this
manner .
“ I believe the support that we gave
was fundamental to Buhari clinching
the party nomination. Without that
support, a different outcome would
have been most likely ,” Tinubu added.
He noted that Buhari later requested
him to nominate three persons for the
job , but he (Tinubu ) presented only
Yemi Osinbajo as his ultimate choice .
“ I backed down because I did not
want to be depicted as causing a
problem. I backed away from the
position in order to offer Buhari a
name I once raised with him in 2011 :
that of Professor Yemi Osibanjo ,” he
added.
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