Rotimi Amaechi, vice-presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), says he would have won the primary contest of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2022 if he had not listened to then President Muhammadu Buhari.
In an interview with Mainland FM, shared on its Instagram on Saturday, Amaechi said Buhari instructed him not to campaign, promising to declare him his preferred candidate.
The former minister of transportation said Buhari’s promise prevented him from entering into deals or agreements with party stakeholders and state governors.
“Anybody would have defeated anybody in that primary. The first mistake that I made at that primary was that I listened to President Buhari. He said to me: ‘Don’t campaign, don’t do anything; I will announce you as my candidate’,” Amaechi said.
“He told me that and put it in writing; when I write my book, I’ll put it out.
“When President Buhari said that to me, I obeyed him because, one, he is my boss; two, if he actually announces anybody, that’s a plus for you, so I didn’t do deals. So, I would have promised the vice-president to this person, the SGF to another, and then we would have gone for this primary and I would have possibly won. I would have had governors on my side. Because I didn’t do deals, Tinubu had a chance to do deals; that is one.”
Amaechi said President Bola Tinubu, eventual winner of the primary and presidential election, exploited religious sentiments to secure support during the APC primary.
He said a delegation of Yoruba Muslims from the south-west approached governors in the north-west for support for Tinubu on religious grounds.
According to him, the delegation argued that northern Muslims had consistently supported southern Christians during elections.
“Two, Tinubu played on religion; I won’t play religious politics. I remember a delegation of southern Yoruba Muslims went and saw the north-west governors and told them, any time there’s an election, you people support southern Christians; when there’s election concerning the north, we all support you; we are Muslims and for the sake of the faith you need to support Tinubu,” he alleged.
“Didn’t you see el-Rufai in a viral video saying this is done for the faith?”
On June 8, 2022, Tinubu was declared winner of the presidential primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He polled 1,271 votes to defeat 13 other presidential hopefuls.
Amaechi polled 316 votes, with then Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo garnering 235 votes.
Then Senate President Ahmad Lawan secured 152 votes.
Laolu Akande, ex-spokesperson to Osinbajo, recently said Buhari promised to support his principal in the buildup to the APC primary contest.
“On at least four separate occasions, President Buhari personally offered to support the Vice-President, telling him plainly: ‘If I don’t support you, who will I support?’,” Akande had said.