Former Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VoN), Osita Okechukwu, has said President Bola Tinubu delivered the “premium golden block votes” that secured victory for former President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential election.
Naijaonpoint reports that Okechukwu stated this in a statement made available to journalists on Thursday in response to recent remarks by the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, who claimed that Tinubu did not help Buhari become president.
Okechukwu said, “The truism is that President Tinubu laid the premium golden victory votes which made Buhari president in 2015.”
He dismissed Mustapha’s comments, arguing that he lacked the historical context of Buhari’s political journey because he was not part of the core merger negotiations that led to the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“There is no need for controversy because my friend, Boss Mustapha, should be excused as he was not with us in 2003 when Buhari began the presidential race. He was in ACN and did not know the water which passed the realpolitik bridge. That is why he relied only on mathematical calculations of votes in 2015 and not on realpolitik,” he said.
According to Okechukwu, Tinubu made a critical political decision when he pledged full support for Buhari’s 2015 presidential ambition, leveraging his political structure and regional influence.
He stated, “Tinubu guaranteed Buhari that he would support him to be president with all his political structure. When Tinubu was asked about his relationship with Atiku and Kwankwaso, he confirmed their friendship but told them clearly that Buhari was the man with the 12 million vote-bank.”
Recounting past election cycles, the former VoN DG explained that Buhari had suffered defeats in 2003, 2007, and 2011 due to failed alliances and electoral malpractice.
“In 2003, our submission to the tribunal was that Buhari won the majority of votes. In 2007, one of the worst elections, Buhari was rigged out, prompting President Yar’Adua to admit the flaws,” he recalled.
He said the failed merger talks between Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011 cost Buhari another loss.
Okechukwu said, “It was when we rekindled the ACN merger again that we succeeded. This time, it produced the premium golden votes that propelled our principal to Aso Rock.”
Okechukwu, a founding member of the APC, recounted how the CPC was instructed to negotiate merger talks strictly with ACN, not the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) or other groups.
He further stated, “I am a witness to how this scenario played out. When we, the CPC delegates, arrived at Chief Tom Ikimi’s Maitama house, we refused to negotiate with ANPP and co. It took pleas and several adjournments before we agreed to the full APC merger in July 2013.”
He concluded by stating that without Tinubu’s strategic intervention and votes from the Southwest, Buhari would not have secured the required national spread to win.
He added, “The rest, as they say, is history. Truly, without Asiwaju’s premium supplementary votes, there would have been no two-third spread, and no victory.”