Isaac Samuel
Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has dismissed claims that President Bola Tinubu was solely responsible for the emergence of late President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 general elections.
Amaechi said the narrative that Tinubu single-handedly made Buhari president was false, insisting that he played a central role in the political mobilisation that led to the All Progressives Congress (APC) victory.
He said several political actors contributed to the formation of the APC and the eventual defeat of the then ruling party, stressing that the 2015 election was a collective effort.
The former governor of Rivers State made the remarks during an interview on Arise News on Friday.
According to him, he led major political battles across the country as part of the campaign structure, serving as Director-General of Buhari’s presidential campaign organisation.
“When we decided to form the APC, while I was a minister, President Tinubu was claiming he made Buhari president, and I couldn’t respond because I was the minister under President Buhari,” Amaechi said.
“That would have been suicidal because Buhari could fire you. So I couldn’t have said no then. He wasn’t the president. I couldn’t tell him, ‘You are wrong. You didn’t make President Buhari president’.”
Amaechi added that he was actively involved in nationwide mobilisation efforts, including his role as chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum at the time.
“Not only was I the DG of the campaign, but everybody will bear witness that I did all the battle,”.
“I led the governors’ forum. I crisscrossed the country fighting here and there.”
He maintained that while the APC succeeded in securing power in 2015 under the “change” slogan, the performance of the administration after assumption of office was mixed.
“Did we achieve the change? Here and there. In some areas, well, we did. In some areas, we did not,” he said.
