The Special Adviser to the President on Public Communications and Orientation, Sunday Dare, on Thursday hailed President Bola Tinubu’s for the role he played in the emergence of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Prior to dislodging the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led Federal Government in 2015, Buhari ran fruitlessly for the presidency in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 elections.
It finally took talks and a political consolidation between Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN) and some other parties to birth the All Progressives Congress (APC) which later won the 2015 presidential election.
According to Dare, he could never have won the election without Tinubu’s support.
“If you look at the role Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu played in the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari and I can say clearly that without Tinubu’s role in forming the party, making the platform to be there, President Buhari would not have emerged,” he said.
Tinubu Backed Buhari’s Presidency
When inquired whether the idea of fielding Buhari as the then-APC presidential candidate, the former minister replied in the affirmative.
“It could never have been just me, it was a team. The electoral victories we won in 2015 and the one in 2019 had the writing of President Tinubu. We are a party and beyond me, several other people were also invited,” he expressed.
He additionally said something regarding Buhari’s performance, in whose government he served as Minister of Sports and Youth Development.
He anyway wouldn’t say whether Buhari flopped in his eight-year tenure. The former minister explained that government is a continuum.
“Buhari came, did his piece and moved on. President Obasanjo did his piece and moved on, Yar’adua came, did his piece and moved on. Jonathan came, did his piece and moved on.
He added, “President Bola Tinubu is there with the imperative experience, boldness to take difficult choices that different presidents didn’t take.”
He communicated the fact that the President ought to be complimented for removing the subsidy on petrol and other reforms pointed toward situating the nation’s economy.
