Tinubu Reveals How Saraki Stopped Buhari From Picking Him As VP

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has accused former Senate President Bukola Saraki of sabotaging his bid to become President Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate in 2015.

Tinubu said that Saraki worked against his vice presidential campaign because he wanted to become Senate President when he met with APC delegates in Ogun State.

He said that Saraki, a former governor of Kwara, began a smear campaign against him when he realized that people who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC would not receive anything.

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Tinubu said, “Buhari wanted me to be his Vice President. He said because the first time he contested, he picked (Chuba) Okadigbo; flamboyant, catholic, but Nigerians didn’t vote for him (Buhari). The second time, he picked another Igbo, Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, Nigerians didn’t vote for him, that if he brought the Pope to run as his deputy, Nigerians would not vote for him, that ‘you, Bola Tinubu, you have six governors, you have never lost an election before, come and be my running mate.

“He knew all the calculations then favoured us. That was why he wanted me as his running mate, but I told him to let us build the party first. And when we finished building the party, we brought in people from the PDP. Saraki saw that those from the PDP would not get anything if Buhari, a Muslim becomes the President and me, also a Muslim becomes his deputy. He won’t become the Senate President and the Senate President could not also be a Muslim. That was how they started the campaign of calumny against me.

“And I told them that I had a candidate that is a Christan that I could nominate so that the party would not break. That was how I nominated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. I surrendered my right to him (Osinbajo).”

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