How Some Northern Elites Told Us Not To Make Buhari APC Candidate – Bisi Akande

Posted by Nwa Diokpa Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Wednesday, December 15th, 2021

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Bisi Akande, former interim chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has stated that some northern elites had asked the party not to field Muhammadu Buhari as presidential candidate in 2015.

In his autobiography “My Participations”, Akande stated that some prominent royal fathers from the region were not eager in fielding Buhari for the election as it may create problems in the north.

The author stated that former President Olusegun Obasanjo also asked leaders of the party not to pick Buhari as its candidate.

According to Akande, the APC decided to review the opposition against Buhari, but chose to endorse him for the nation’s number one seat.

“It was apparent from the start that Buhari would be our choice for President. That was one of the bases for the merger.”

“However, there were pressures from the elites, especially from the North, including royal fathers, piling pressure on us not to allow Buhari to be our presidential candidate.

“A prominent aristocratic leader from the North stayed several nights in Osogbo, persuading Governor Aregbesola to prevail on us not to field Buhari. He threatened that if we did, there would be trouble in the North.

“We also met Obasanjo and asked him to join us. He said that he would not join us but that he had his sympathy for us. He said he has decided not to join any political party since he left PDP. Behind the scene however, I understood he was pressurising some of our leaders not to use Buhari as our candidate.

“It got to a point when Bola Tinubu had to confront him thus: ‘It is not fair sending me Buhari. Buhari was a soldier and he was one of your junior officers in the Army. Why don’t you call Buhari and let him know how you feel about his intention to be President?’ I don’t know whether Obasanjo stopped at it. From the start, he did not want Buhari to be President.”