By Gideon Njoku
“On the eve of the (Presidential) Primaries, Buhari was at the edge of losing until Amaechi stepped in to save the situation”
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chukwuemeka Eze, has sensationally revealed the reason behind the no-love lost relationship between President Bola Tinubu and the immediate past Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi.
Eze, a close political ally of Amaechi, disclosed in a statement that the former Rivers Governor, stopped Tinubu from becoming running mate to then APC Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari. For playing that role, which sprang-up Professor Yemi Osinbajo as Buhari’s running mate, Tinubu never forgave Amaechi.
According to Eze, to hit back, Tinubu ensured that two high profile positions- Chief of Staff to the President and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation – reserved for Amaechi to pick one, were denied him.
Eze disclosed this in response to the claim made by Temitope Ajayi, President Tinubu’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, that Tinubu made Buhari President in 2015. He said that the claim that Tinubu was the mastermind to Buhari’s ascent to the Presidential seat is false.
In a statement he released on Tuesday, Eze, a solid member of APC Legacy Media Team, said it was important to correct the fallacy before it is taken as the Gospel truth.
According to him, Amaechi was more crucial to Buhari’s emergence as the APC Candidate and final victory as President by not only being on the driver’s seat, but providing the much needed funds when Tinubu allegedly wanted to truncate it because Buhari did not pick him as running mate.
Eze: “The fact that the insensitive sponsored statement gained traction in the media space makes this rebuttal imperative.
“I don’t intend to join issues with Ajayi, but to demount the falsehood he intends to establish in the congregation of the reading public.”
Ajayi had, in a post on his social media handle, played down on Buhari’s famed 12 million votes from the North by claiming that even though Buhari had his “12 million captive Northern votes” that did not give him victory at the presidential polls in 2003, 2007, and 2011. He only succeeded in 2015.
Ajayi: “General Buhari would not have won the APC primary election at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, in 2014, without President Tinubu, who mobilised the APC Governors and the South West delegates to move Buhari’s way.”
But Eze debunked Ajayi’s statement and dismissed it as “a figment of his infantile imagination”.
His words: “Ajayi’s insinuation is a fairy tale, a false narrative that should be disconnected by right thinking Nigerians.
“Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, the former Governor of Rivers State remains an undisputed factor in the history book of top brass Nigerians that worked towards the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the eventual winner at the presidential polls.
“As a matter of fact, aside from becoming the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign, where he mobilized Nigerians to deliver Buhari during the elections, Barr. Amaechi raised funds that saw the election of Buhari as the APC Presidential candidate.
“On the eve of the Primaries, Buhari was at the verge of losing until Amaechi stepped in to save the situation.
“At least, the former Secretary to Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, as an insider in most of APC activities, should understand what he was saying about how Buhari became the President of Nigeria.
“I cannot remember seeing Temitope Ajayi, near APC activities during both the 2014 Presidential Primaries that elected Buhari as the APC Presidential candidate for him to know who made Buhari President or who contributed more in his emergence.”
Eze revealed that Tinubu had planned to disrupt Buhari’s victory if he was not made Buhari’s running mate. Eze said it was Amaechi and a few others who stood against Tinubu’s opposition by reasoning that facing PDP then with a Muslim-Muslim ticket was a no-no.
Said Eze: “That was how Osinbanjo (Yemi) was drafted into the map. And ever since then, Tinubu has always seen Amaechi as an adversary.
“Since then, Tinubu has not forgiven Amaechi for denying him this dream of becoming the Vice President of Nigeria; and set himself to ensure the decimation of Amaechi politically, with the feeling that Amaechi will become a stumbling block to his presidential ambition in future.”
Eze also revealed that to get back at Amaechi, Tinubu made sure that Amaechi was neither made the Chief of Staff to President Buhari nor the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. These positions, according to Eze, were reserved for Amaechi to pick one after he successfully midwifed Buhari’s election as the President of Nigeria.
“Ajayi has lost memory, if not, why did he forget so soon that Amaechi, as the Campaign Director General of the Buhari Presidential Campaign Organisation defeated a sitting President?”
Eze, then reminded Ajayi that Amaechi’s role in ensuring Buhari’s election o
against all odds, was the reason Tinubu declared Amaechi as “the General of Revolution” and “not a chicken but Eagle”.
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