Mustapha had argued that Buhari’s consistent base of over 12 million votes prior to the merger accounted for the majority of his 15.4 million votes against former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, has stated that the 2013 merger that led to the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was instrumental in securing the crucial votes that propelled former President Muhammadu Buhari to victory in the 2015 presidential election.
Speaking on Arise TV on Thursday, Onanuga directly countered former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha’s claim that the APC merger contributed only three million votes to Buhari’s victory.
Mustapha had argued that Buhari’s consistent base of over 12 million votes prior to the merger accounted for the majority of his 15.4 million votes against former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Onanuga, however, emphasised that despite Buhari’s substantial vote count, he “was nowhere” in the South.
He stressed that the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), a key component of the merger alongside the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), was vital for providing the electoral “spread” and “important votes” from the South needed to secure the presidency.
Onanuga said: “It was clear to ACN, a very strategic arm of that alliance, that without additional support, there was no way Buhari could have won the election.
“Yeah, he was getting 12 million votes if you put all the 19 states together, but in the south, Buhari was nowhere. Buhari needed the spread. ACN had six.
“Buhari got the votes he needed in those six states. They may not be in millions, but there were important votes.
“He won in all those six states, and he got more than 25 percent. At the end of the day, he won in about 25 states, more than the constitutional requirement of 24 states.”
Onanuga added that Buhari “never forgot the help that Tinubu rendered to him” and that he would not have become President without Tinubu’s help.
