After Buhari, ‘it is my turn’ – Tinubu

“If not for me that stood behind Buhari he wouldn’t have become the president.”

The presidential aspirant and national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has said he was instrumental in bringing Muhammadu Buhari to power when all hope seems blink and impossible.

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu spoke while meeting the governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, leaders and delegates of the party at the presidential lodge, Ibara, Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State.

Bola Tinubu was in the state to meet APC delegates ahead of the party’s presidential primaries a move he needs so keenly to formalise his political base.

“If not for me that stood behind Buhari he wouldn’t have become the president,” said Mr Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State has said before the delegates and the whole world.

“He tried the first time, he failed, the second time, he failed, the third, he failed, he even wept on national television and vowed never to contest again but I went to meet him in Kaduna and told him he will run again, I will stand by you and you will win, but you must not joke with Yorubas and he agreed.

“Since he became the president, I have never got ministerial slots, I didn’t collect any contract, I have never begged for anything from him, it is the turn of Yoruba, it is my turn.”

Mr Tinubu said he was also instrumental in Dapo Abiodun becoming the Ogun governor, as well as Yemi Osinbajo becoming vice president.

Gov Dapo Abiodun had publicly thrown his weight behind Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, an Ogun State indigene, who is also a presidential aspirant.

I am the one that handed the flag to him. He knows that he cannot be the governor without the help of God and my support. It has been over 25 years now that I have been serving them.”

“If the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, will be fair enough, he will confirm that, if not for God and me, he will never become governor in this state,” Tinubu said.

“We were together at the MKO Abiola Stadium, he was intimidated, they didn’t want to give him the party’s flag, I was the one that handed the flag to him. He knows that he cannot be the governor without the help of God and my support. It has been over 25 years now that I have been serving them.”

Osinbajo as vice president

On the role he played in Prof Osinbajo’s vice presidency, Tinubu went back into memory lane of how Buhari initially approached him to become his running mate ahead of the 2015 election.

“Since the time we started with the Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and now the All Progressives Congress (APC), I wanted to contest for president that time,” he began.

“This is me telling you between my life and God Almighty, Buhari called me to be his Vice President. He said because the first time he contested, he picked Okadigbo, a flamboyant Catholic, but Nigerians didn’t vote for him.

“The second time, he picked another Igbo, Ume-Ezeoke, Nigerians didn’t vote for him. He knows that even if he goes to bring the Pope to run as his vice, Nigerians won’t vote for him. So he said, ‘you, Bola Tinubu, you have six governors, you have never lost an election before, come and be my vice.

“He knew all the calculations then favoured us, that was why he wanted me as his vice, but I told him to let us build the party first.

“And when we finished building the party, after we brought in people from the PDP, Saraki knew that those from the PDP will not get anything if Buhari, a Muslim, becomes the president and me, also a Muslim, becomes his vice. He knew he won’t get the Senate President because the Senate President cannot also be a Muslim; that was how they started the campaign of calumny against me.

“I told them that I have a candidate that is a Christian that I can nominate so that the party will not break, that was how I nominated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. I surrendered my right to him (Osinbajo).”

Message to delegates

Tinubu told the delegates that he is the best bet to represent the APC at the presidential polls saying, he has a wealth of experience.

“It is my time, I’m educated, I’m experienced. I have been serving you for a long time, bring me the presidency, bring it, it is my turn,” he said.

“When Atiku was being flogged out of PDP by Obasanjo, he ran to me for help, I left the ticket for him. Nuhu Ribadu came to me and I backed him.

The facts are incorrigible and impeccable to deny. In fairness to Bola Tinubu he is human and feel the heat that the least he expected was not to betray him but to support his Presidential ambition before the Nigerian people. It may be emotional outbursts but the facts is a dagger that perch through the charge political atmosphere the delivery may be unpredictable but the message is clear .

In Mr Tinubu’s entourage were the Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje; his Lagos State counterpart, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; former governor of Borno State, Kassim Shettima, and the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa.