BY AHMED AKANBI
Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has revealed that President Bola Tinubu spent over N2 billion to fund Muhammadu Buhari’s 2015 presidential campaign.
Lawal made the claim in an interview over the weekend while recounting the political negotiations that led to Buhari’s emergence as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate and eventual victory.
According to him, the funds covered key aspects of the campaign, including the vice-presidential bid of Prof Yemi Osinbajo and the engagement of political consultants linked to former US President Barack Obama.
“I witnessed firsthand what Tinubu did to facilitate Buhari’s presidency, and I never allowed Buhari to forget it,” Lawal said, adding that Tinubu’s financial and strategic support was decisive in building the APC merger that defeated the PDP in 2015.
The former SGF said Tinubu midwifed the alliance of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; Congress for Progressive Change, CPC; All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA and members of the breakaway new Peoples Democratic Party, nPDP that formed the APC.
Beyond funding, Lawal revealed that Tinubu also secured the party ticket for Buhari during the APC convention in 2014 when support was split across zones.
He explained that the North-West was backing Rabiu Kwankwaso and Atiku Abubakar, the South-East was with Rochas Okorocha, while South-West delegates were waiting for Tinubu’s directive.
“On the eve of the APC convention in 2014, the North-West was supporting Kwankwaso and Atiku, while the South-West was waiting for Tinubu’s direction,” Lawal stated.
He said he and other party leaders met Tinubu late at night with data on Buhari’s electoral strength in the North and persuaded him to align the South West behind Buhari.
“Tinubu did not sleep that night. He returned to meet Governors Nyako and Wamakko and convinced them to support Buhari. That was how we regained the North-West votes,” he added.
Lawal said the intervention gave Buhari the backing of both North-West and South-West delegates, while other aspirants split the remaining votes at the convention.
He also disclosed that Buhari had earlier raised concerns about Tinubu’s educational background and genealogy, and had access to intelligence files on him.
“Whenever Buhari complained about Tinubu, I reminded him, ‘You knew all this when you sought his support, and he stood by us. Why bite the finger that fed us?’ Buhari accepted the point,” Lawal said.