Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has claimed that President Bola Tinubu played a pivotal role in the formation of the All Progressives Congress
He also said he bankrolled key aspects of the 2015 presidential campaign that brought former President Muhammadu Buhari to power.
Lawal, who served as SGF under Buhari, made the claims during an interview on Symfoni TV released on Saturday.
He recounted how he acted as a bridge between Buhari and Tinubu to facilitate the merger of opposition parties into the APC.
According to Lawal, Buhari initially tasked him with the merger process because of his close relationship with Tinubu.
He said he initially declined due to the potential backlash from some northern political figures but eventually accepted the role after Buhari insisted.
“I was in Dubai when you called me that I should come out because we want to do a merger with the ACN. And I told you, sir, this role you want me to play, I cannot play it… So Buhari said, you are the only one that can help us do this merger because Bola is your friend,” Lawal said, narrating a conversation with the late former president.
He revealed that Tinubu deferred his own presidential ambition at the time to prioritise removing the PDP from power.
According to Lawal, Tinubu told him: “BD, you know my ambition to be president. But the way the country is going, the primary goal is to get rid of PDP. I will defer my ambition, put it aside until we achieve this goal.”
At the APC presidential convention, Lawal said Tinubu played a decisive role in securing the support Buhari needed to emerge as the party’s candidate.
After analysing delegate strengths late into the night, he said he approached Tinubu with data showing Buhari’s strong northern support required backing from the South-West.
“I said, sir, look at it. I have this data… This man (Buhari), whether he is on the ballot or not, he normally gets 12 million votes from the north. So it required three more million votes… Sir, why not support your winning ticket?” Lawal recalled telling Tinubu.
He continued, “He (Tinubu) saw the logic, persuaded them with the argument. And coming from Tinubu, of course… So at the last minute, around 4 a.m., they agreed that they were going to support Buhari.”
Lawal also claimed that Tinubu mobilised substantial funds for the campaign and separately financed former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s campaign activities because they operated somewhat independently of the main Buhari campaign.
“Through him (Tinubu), we were able to raise sufficient funds to do the campaign.
“Not only did he do that, Osinbajo’s portion of the campaign, he funded it, hired a chartered plane to fund the trip because Osinbajo’s campaign was a little bit broken away from the main campaign.
“Osinbajo on his own was a pastor. His ethnic nationalities and Christians had some doubts about Buhari. He was on that side.
“He wasn’t in our own area and he was just operating semi-independently of the main campaign. Tinubu was funding it,” Lawal said.
He continued; “Then I know of another place when he hired some consultants for us from the US, who were doing quite a lot of professional work.
“I don’t know their names. I just know that they were Obama people, and they came and they transformed our campaign, and I knew that the money he paid them was in excess of two billion naira equivalent in dollars,” he said.
Lawal also claimed that Tinubu personally bore the cost of major campaign expenditures instead of drawing from the campaign’s central funds.
“And there’s another thing about Bola Tinubu: if there’s a need for an expenditure, no matter how massive, he doesn’t come to the campaign purse; he spends from his own purse.
“All these things I told you. Some people don’t know this, but I was there, and I knew this. And he did all these things,” he added.
He described the President as highly generous before assuming office.
“Bola has given some people a stupendous amount of money to help them out of crisis that I know first-hand, without expecting anything,” Lawal said.
“He has a gift… He can see in you a future return for himself in advance.”
However, Lawal drew a sharp contrast with Tinubu’s current leadership.
He described the Tinubu administration after three years in office as “a failure”, accusing it of putting self-interest above the national interest.
“The people running the government don’t seem to be people who love the country. They are people who love themselves,” he said. “Everybody is bitter that life is tough.”
On Tinubu personally, Lawal said: “Suddenly, I don’t know what has happened, he has lost his soul… Having come to this government, he has lost his soul.”
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