Obasanjo, Some Northern Leaders Never Wanted Buhari To Become President In 2015 – Akande

Former interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande has revealed that former President Olusegun Obasanjo and some elite northern leaders never supported the candidacy of Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

He said they opposed his candidacy because they believed making Buhari president of Nigeria will bring about serious problems.

Akande however added that regardless of the opposition, it was clear Buhari was going to be the APC presidential candidate as the merger which brought about the formation of the APC was majorly to support the candidacy of Buhari in 2015.

The elder statesman made the revelation in his recently unveiled autobiography “My Participations.”

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

“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 pressurizing some of our leaders not to use Buhari as our candidate.

Akande added that Obasanjo put constant pressure on Asiwaju Bola Tinubu not to allow Buhari to become the APC presidential candidate which made Tinubu confront the former Nigerian leader.

“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.”