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Tag: Boss Mustapha

  • Former SGF Mustapha distances self from opposition alliance, reaffirms loyalty to APC

    Former SGF Mustapha distances self from opposition alliance, reaffirms loyalty to APC

    Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, has dissociated himself from any political alliance with opposition parties, declaring his continued loyalty to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Reacting to a circulating report linking him to an alleged opposition coalition and the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mustapha described the claim as “fake news” and urged the public to disregard it.

    “I am not in any opposition alliance, and I am not in any discussion with those who are involved,” he said in a statement he personally released on Sunday.

    Read Also: 2027: Minister assures Tinubu, APC of massive votes in A’Ibom

    The former SGF, who served from 2017 to 2023 under President Muhammadu Buhari, recalled his role as Deputy National Chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), one of the legacy parties that merged to form the APC in 2013.

    “As the Deputy National Chairman of the ACN, the largest political party with six governors at the time of the merger and the formation of the All Progressives Congress, I can rightly claim that I am one of the founding fathers of the governing party,” he said.

    Mustapha maintained that his commitment to the APC was unwavering, stressing that internal disagreements should be addressed within the party rather than by defecting.

    “I cannot, therefore, in all reasonableness, walk away from a party I helped to form. If our party has problems, as all the other parties do, we will stay in the party and fix those problems. We don’t solve problems by decamping to other parties,” he added.

    He called on political actors and the public to desist from associating his name with any opposition movement, reiterating that he remains firmly aligned with the APC and its ideals.

  • Boss Mustapha and the colour of Tinubu loyalists

    Boss Mustapha and the colour of Tinubu loyalists

    Boss Mustapha was appointed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation in Oct 2017; he was a card carrying member of Tinubu’s ACN. Unarguably, he utilized the ACN slot in the APC coalition. But Mustapha appears to be the first notable Tinubu supporter to question his principals Abeokuta 2022 declaration that he was the one responsible for bringing Buhari out of retirement after his three heroic failures of 2003, 2007 and 2011.

    Speaking during the public presentation of a book titled: According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesman’s Experience by Shehu Garba, Buhari’s former senior media assistant, he had argued that Tinubu did not make Buhari president. According to him, Buhari already had an established support base of 12 million votes, and the merger of legacy parties that formed the All Progressives Congress (APC) only added around three million more votes. For him President Buhari’s integrity, national stature and disciplined messaging were central to the breakthrough, not the insignificant three million votes from other merging parties.

    As expected, there have been various reactions to what many consider his attempt to rewrite recent history. First was the close associate and long-time ally of former President Muhammadu Buhari, Farouk Aliyu.  He disagreed with the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha’s claim regarding the role of President Bola Tinubu in Buhari’s 2015 election victory. Aliyu, as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today, last Thursday, dismissed Mustapha’s position as inaccurate, insisting that while Buhari’s 12 million votes were consistent, they had never been enough to secure a presidential victory until the 2015 alliance with Tinubu.

    Temitope Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media and Public Affairs described Boss Mustapha’s comment as a “disservice to our recent history”. “General Buhari would not have won the APC primary election at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, in 2014 without President Tinubu, who mobilised the APC governors of the Southwest and the delegates to move Buhari’s way.” This was a primary in which some of Buhari’s northwest candidates did not vote for him.

    For  Osita Okechukwu, the immediate past Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), and a founding member of Buhari’s CPC: …” Tinubu’s contributions were pivotal, describing them as the “premium golden victory votes”( Truly, without Asiwaju’s premium supplementary votes, there would have been no two-thirds spread and no victory,” adding  “.….My friend, Boss Mustapha, should be excused because he wasn’t with us in 2003 when Buhari began his presidential journey. He was in the ACN and wasn’t privy to the realpolitik that defined the alliance

    For Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, “Tinubu ensured that Buhari clinched the APC presidential ticket by overcoming strong challengers like Atiku Abubakar and Rabiu Kwankwaso.” Onanuga stated: “But more critically, he gave Buhari what he had always lacked — geographical spread and additional votes from the Southwest.”

    Read Also: How Buhari and I were admitted in same UK hospital before his death, by Abdulsalami

    The above testimonies by insiders with deep knowledge of what transpired behind the scene should have ordinarily lain to rest Mustapha’s attempt at revisionism.

    But beyond this, I think we should try to interrogate Tinubu’s choice of Mustapha, a man with drifting loyalty as his eyes and ear in the presidency instead of any of other so-called trusted allies he had invested heavily on.

    The choice of Mustapha was also curious because we know Tinubu is not a one dimensional thinker like most of us who often based our decisions on logic without taking into consideration the character of man, who God himself claim was the worst of his creation? And in any case, it is not as if Mustapha had not demonstrated he is a man of drifting loyalty.

    A few years to the 2023 election, Lagos took the federal government to court over control of waterways. Mustapha, an ACN card-carrying member working for federal government was on hand to defend his paymaster. They advanced all forms of arguments  but, without finding a theory  to support continued federal usurpation of powers of constituent units which had gone close to 70% when the likes of misguided Obasanjo started their misadventure that has brought our nation to its kneel.

    Then Boss Mustapha reached for the killer argument: he told Nigerians on a national television that “Lagos cannot take control of her waterways because most of the rivers flowing to the Atlantic Ocean did not take their source from Lagos”. This was in line with some bizarre argument of northern ethnic irredentist that claim all the oil deposit in the Niger Delta belong to the north because it was from there they flowed to the coast.

    For Tinubu, such sycophancy did little to tilt the choice towards his so-called trusted allies.

    That Tinubu spent billions to wage Kayode Fayemi and Rauf Aregbesola’s electoral and judicial battles; that he helped Ibikunle Amosun, an ANPP man to take over APC structure in Ogun; that Yemi Osinbajo confirmed he was the one mandated by Asiwaju to recruit 50,000 fingerprint experts from Britain who worked for six months in Nigeria to ensure Fayemi’s stolen mandate in Ekiti was retrieved; same with Aregbesola’s stolen victory in Osun, Oshiomhole stolen mandate in Edo and Mimiko’s stolen mandate in Ondo. That all of them were retrieved remains part of the nation’s documented history

    As it turned out, it was not long after Tinubu had carried Buhari on his back across the country to secure his second term victory that forces, who also thought they could be president in 2023, led by Tinubu’s ‘faithful’ boys –  Fayemi, Amosun, Aregbesola, joined  Tinubu sworn political foes including  Owelle  Rochas Okorocha,  Rotimi Ameachi, Nasir El Rufai and others to illegally remove Oshiomhole as APC chairman. They then handed the APC structure to their friend, Mai Mala Buni. Between 2020 and 2022, they tried to cast the APC in their own image in order to serve their interest in 2023.

    With their principal effectively shut out and their control of APC, Fayemi and Amosun set up their individual presidential committees in the various state governors’ offices from where they frittered away billions of state funds mobilizing support for their ambition across the nation.

    The Buhari mafia,  they cheaply sold their principal, started to speak of ‘a consensus candidate’ on the eve of a primary election and while some hawkish members insisted that Tinubu, regarded as front runner should be punished for saying Buhari lost elections three times after which he wept.

    If Tinubu had found favour in anyone in the two years he was pushed out of the structure he jointly built with others, by his own people, it was from Boss Mustapha, the politician with drifting loyalty. It was only from SGF office activities of those scheming to run a joint ticket with Nasir El Rufai, those shopping for delegates with their state funds and those who believed they have sealed the fate of their principal could be monitored and probably relayed back to the game master himself.

    Tinubu’s choice of Boss Mustapha as his eyes at the presidency therefore appeared strategic. The game master who boasted he is always ahead of his political foes was waiting for them in Abuja on the APC convention night-a night of many knives. It was here they discovered too late that they had all been swindled or to use Dino Melaye words “owo ti wo mi”. Monies paid in respect of promised delegate went into the water!

    When those consumed by blind ambition discovered there was no way to match Tinubu’s projected lead of over 2000, they started to step down one after the other with their tails behind their back. But everyone saw through their chicanery.

    Perhaps Tinubu’s secret to success is that he never holds political hostages. Everyone is his friend. While he understands all men are fortune seekers and all politicians are men of many words, he also knows that “there is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face”, as Shakespeare puts it in Macbeth.

  • Boss Mustapha’s revisionism: a study in intellectual dereliction

    Boss Mustapha’s revisionism: a study in intellectual dereliction

    By Charles Marindoti Oludare

    In a recent and astonishing display of intellectual dereliction, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, boldly asserted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not make Muhammadu Buhari president. That statement, rather than elevating political discourse, represents a troubling retreat from both fact and logic. It is the political equivalent of a man who, knowing how to calculate 2 + 2, presumes himself a statistician. Few claims could be more factually awry or intellectually dubious than this one.

    It is the kind of reasoning that assumes elections are won by the sheer number of votes rather than the margins that flip political battlegrounds and the sophistication required to navigate national political thresholds, such as Nigeria’s constitutional requirement for 25% of votes in at least two-thirds of the states.

    Boss Mustapha, perhaps swayed by the euphoria of numbers from the North, where Buhari’s vote count was indeed dominant, forgets that no presidential victory in Nigeria is ever won by one or two zones. In fact, President Tinubu’s own record shows that he received just about 17.7% of his votes from the Northwest, despite its population. That figure alone renders Boss Mustapha’s argument not just weak, but entirely dismissive of the vote margins in swing regions — notably the Southwest and the North Central — which played a decisive role in Buhari’s victory in 2015.

    More glaring is the former SGF’s inability to contextualize the structural reforms between 2011 and 2015 that transformed Nigeria’s electoral system:

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    1) The introduction of Smart Card Readers that drastically reduced over-voting and inflated figures

    2) The shift to PVC-based accreditation, which disenfranchised fake and duplicate registrations

    3) The separation of accreditation and voting periods

    4) A significant clean-up of the voter register, which saw millions of ghost voters removed

    These reforms tightened electoral integrity and exposed just how artificially bloated previous vote counts had been, particularly in the North. It was only with Tinubu’s political dexterity, the merger of opposition forces, and his groundwork in the Southwest, that Buhari could finally achieve national spread — after three failed attempts.

    Boss Mustapha’s failure to grasp these electoral and structural evolutions reveals a tragic lack of political and analytical sophistication. This may well be the undoing of whatever coalition he chooses to support ahead of 2027. Elections are not won merely by historic loyalty or rhetorical bravado; they are won through careful coalition-building, cross-regional outreach, and strategic brilliance. All of which President Tinubu brought to the table in 2015.

    But the danger of Mustapha’s statement is not merely its factual inaccuracy or disrespect to President Tinubu. It is that he utterly fails to appreciate the spirit of camaraderie and sacrifice that underpinned the 2013 merger that gave birth to the APC. In making such a boast, Mustapha did not just insult Tinubu; he undermined the very spirit of collective struggle that birthed the first successful opposition victory in Nigeria’s democratic history.

    He also diminished himself, and worse, disrespected President Buhari, whose humility and strategic patience in that era of delicate coalition-building stand in sharp contrast to the chest-thumping of his former SGF. Indeed, the tone of Mustapha’s remarks calls to mind why the merger talks of 2011 collapsed — due to the arrogance of some northern political elites who refused to see any southern politician as an equal partner.

    If anything, Mustapha’s revisionist remarks validate the historic role played by Tinubu, whose foresight, negotiation skill, and sacrifice made Buhari electable in 2015. Without Tinubu, there was no merger. Without the merger, there was no presidency.

    This is not just a political truth. It is historical fact.

    And as the 2027 elections approach, those who still see politics through the narrow lens of regional pride and self-congratulation will find themselves left behind. Nigeria has moved on. Perhaps it’s time the likes of Boss Mustapha did too

    • Dr. Olúdàre is a physician, political strategist, and Convener of the Social Rehabilitation Gruppe.

  • Boss Mustapha’s regression to revisionism

    Boss Mustapha’s regression to revisionism

    It was the turn of Boss Mustapha, lawyer, politician and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, to lend his voice to the distortion of contemporary history on Wednesday.

    Although he has never been known to be a controversial figure, the politician from Adamawa State momentarily indulged in curious revisionism by attempting to de-emphasise the contribution of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the victory of the mega party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), during the 2015 presidential election. 

    As if he was addressing a country enveloped in amnesia, Mustapha, in fact, also attempted to disparage the input of the Southwest and other followers of the esteemed National Leader to the success of former President Muhammadu Buhari during the historic exercise. 

    As he reeled out the falsehood, many guests at the Mallam Garba Shehu’s book presentation shook their heads in disapproval. 

    It is pathetic and counter-productive that 13 years after the successful merger, some APC members still relate to the organisation as chieftains of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). The platform is still being viewed as a party of senior and junior partners, and not an organisation offering the opportunity for all members to grow, contribute, mature and advance without let and hindrances. 

    The perception of a national party through ethnic, primordial and regional lens reflects an addiction to clannishness. This also portends a mortal danger to national unity.

    The motivation for the strange vituperation is unknown because the former SGF has not been associated with frivolities, prevacation and falsehood.

    Posing as the copyright owner and authentic historian of the ‘legacy parties’ consultations’ that culminated in the birth of APC, the former defunct Action Congress (AC) national secretary declared that the merger only produced 3.2 million votes in addition to Buhari’s existing 12 million votes from the North.

    Two things can be easily deduced from the statement. Like Mallam Nosiru El-Rufai and other exponents of regional bullying, the votes of the North could have exclusively taken Buhari to Aso Villa, the seat of power, without the addendum votes from the South, particularly the Southwest. 

    The second is that now that certain northern voices, no matter how few, are calling for the jettisioning of zoning or rotation by impatiently advocating power shift to the North, the region can actually instal another northerner as president on account of its huge population and numerical voting strength. 

    Mustapha is wrong. But since he is not a student of Mathematics, Statistics and System Analysis, his outburst is pardonable. As a system, APC is characterised by a network of units that are interdependent. When a unit malnufunctions, the whole is disrupted. Indeed, as past periodic presidential elections have shown, no region or blocs of regions can exclusively instal the president without the strategic support of other zones. Also, no particular leader among the actors can exclusively claim that his efforts singularly led to group victory. It is always a collective effort achieved through team spirit. 

    READ ALSO; Russia offers to increase scholarships for Nigerian students 

    But, the contributions of party chieftains were not equal. They came in diverse forms according to the differential capacities, talents, resources, pedigrees and resilience.

    Mustapha was not too young or too remote from the activities of the legacy parties that surrendered their certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the condition of fusion or merger. 

    Before the 2015 polls, Buhari had contested thrice, but without success. His fanatical followership in the North was not in doubt. But the votes were insufficient to make him president in 2003, 2007 and 2011. 

    In 2003, Buhari’s running mate was the late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo. Yet, he was rejected by the Southeast. In 2007, the late Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke paired with him. It was futile. In 2011, he picked Tunde Bakare, lawyer and popular cleric without a formidable structure. 

    Buhari was defeated in the three elections, despite his patriotism, apathy to corruption and modest lifestyle. After the third round of defeat, he shed tears for Nigeria. He could not make the difference.

    In 2003, President Olusegun Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defeated Buhari of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) with over 11 million votes. Obasanjo had managed to secure the endorsement of the Southwest, unlike 1999 when they voted for Chief Olu Falae. Obasanjo polled 24,456,140 while Buhari got 12,710,022. 

    In 2007, the PDP candidate, President Umaru Yar’Adua, also defeated Buhari. He polled 24,638,063, which was over 69 per cent. Buhari got 6,605,299, a mere 18 percent. It must however, be noted that the poll was severely flawed as acknowledged by the winner.

    Ahead of 2011, Buhari left the ANPP. Tthe leaders of the progressive bloc made overtures to him. But the discussion floundered. Although the General recognised inter-regional collaboration, he later picked a running mate who could not sufficiently mobilise his geo-political zone. 

    At the close of poll, Buhari of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) was defeated by President Goodluck Jonathan of PDP, who scored 22,495,187 votes, representing 58.8 percent. Buhari garnered 12,214,853 votes, representing 31.9 percent.

    Reality consequently dawned on him that he needed help beyond the North to realise his ambition to rule the country. Suspicion between Buhari’s men and Tinubu/Akande group had to give way.

    The correct history is that Tinubu, who became the moving spirit, visioner and arrowhead of the merger talks and movement offered a great leadership. He inspired other like-minded leaders from ACN, ANPP, CPC, a section of APGA and new-PDP to reason together in their collective determination to abort the dream of the PDP to loom large for the next 60 years. 

    Although the former military Head of State doubted whether the anticipated merger could see the light of the day, Tinubu raised a team of eight legal luminaries to visit Buhari in Kaduna and explain to him the possibility. He came up with the theory of cows that can never be permitted to escape from the slaughter’s slab. They are not meant to return once they enter. The implication of the fusion agreement is that having surrendred their certificates of registration, they cannot be retrieved by the legacy parties. 

    It was at that stage that Buhari’s bid for the highest office had a national outlook. Apart from galvanising the movement, Tinubu also made a sacrifice when the agreement to make him the running mate could not be honoured due to religious parity. His activities made the media to give him the title of the National Leader, which was never disputed by other party leaders in the strategic partnership.

    The registration of the mega party set the stage for a titanic battle for power at the federal and state levels. It changed the political calculus. It was a major breakthrough. APC leaders achieved what the giants of history – the first generation of political leaders and their lieutenants – could not achieve in the First and Second republics.

    The baby was also delivered without complication. The midwife, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which provided the atmosphere for safe delivery, said that the child birth was without a prolonged labour. Former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega, also affirmed that the new platform met the requirements laid down by the constitution. The confirmation dismissed the claim of the brains behind the unregistered rival organisation that falsely laid claim to its acronym, the APC.

    Tinubu, who became the vocal seller of the party, said APC was formed in the national interest. He explained that the leaders of the merging parties decided to forfeit their platforms, sink their slight differences and make sacrifice for the country.

    Asiwaju Tinubu played a great role in the emergence of Buhari as APC candidate during the presidential primary at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos. 

    The campaign was rigorous. Tinubu and other compatriots and partners – Buhari/Tony Momoh, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Chief Rochas Okorocha and Dr. Bukola Saraki – were focussed and united by the push for change. But nobody among the leaders made greater financial commitment to the project. Besides, Asiwaju Tinubu was strengthened by his belief in zoning or rotation to foster cohesion, justice, national unity and peace.

    For the first time in the history of presidential election in Nigeria, Buhari, the opposition candidate on the platform of APC defeated the PDP with more than 2.5 million votes. The power of incumbency collapsed. Buhari polled 15,424,921, representing 53.96 percent to defeat Dr. Jonathan, who got 12,853,162, representing 44.96 per cent.

    The beat of political romance changed, shortly after the governent took off. Outside power, Tinubu could not play a major role in the Buhari administration, even in advisory capacity. But he remained committed to the administration and loyal to the party. 

    Around 2017, Rufai and Rotimi Amaechi, former Transportation minister, during their consultation with the media in Lagos on the Buhari’s re-election bid, found out that the lion of Bourdillion could still roar. During the meeting at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, they were told to go back to Tinubu, if they actually wanted to know the accurate views of the Southwest or needed  the regional support. 

    Although Buhari had not attended Tinubu’s birthday in Abuja after his inauguration as president, he came to Lagos to attend the next one, following the consultation by the two APC chieftains. In Lagos, he showered praises on Tinubu, describing him as a strategist. 

    While Tinubu was not solely responsible for installing Buhari on the two occasions, he played outstanding roles that cannot be ignored by any honest historian. 

    If he had not initiated the idea of cross regional political collaboration, cooperation and understanding, Buhari would not have become president.

    If Tinubu and his group had also pulled out when his vice presidential ambition crumbled due to religious factor, Jonathan would have retained power. Downplaying President Tinubu’s role smacks of intellectual dishonesty.

    The sacrifices made by him were legendary. That was why God also made him to succeed Buhari in 2023. 

    It is gratifying that other northern patriots have stayed focus on President Tinubu’s re-election bid. The tone of internal opposition by the former men of power would not resonate with them.

    The rantings at the book lunch were a deservice to truth and commonsense.

  • Mustapha gets knocks for downplaying Tinubu’s role in Buhari’s 2015 triumph

    Mustapha gets knocks for downplaying Tinubu’s role in Buhari’s 2015 triumph

    Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha yesterday received more knocks over his frantic attempt to disparage President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s contributions to the victory of his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, in the historic 2015 poll.

    A presidential aide, Tope Ajayi, berated the lawyer and politician from Adamawa State for distorting history. He said that he got it all wrong.

    Mustapha, who spoke during the presentation of According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesman’s Experience,  a memoir by Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Wednesday, said no single individual made Buhari president.

    Although, he did not mention any name, the remark was generally linked to President Tinubu.

    The 2015 election marked a watershed in national history, being the first time an incumbent president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, was defeated at the poll.

    The APC’s victory was largely attributed to the strategic merger of major opposition parties — including Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and factions of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    However, Mustapha said the merger which birthed the APC contributed only 3.2 million votes to the 15.4 million total votes that secured Buhari’s victory.

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    Mustapha said Buhari already had an established support base of 12 million votes before the fusion of legacy parties.

    But, Shehu who hosted the event, clarified yesterday that Mustapha’s remarks were blown out of proportion, adding that a lot of mischief and sensationalism went into its reporting.

    It’s a disservice to history, says President’s aide

    Criticising the highly controversial remarks, Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant to the President, said in a statement that it is a deservice to history.

    The aide, who refuted the claims on his verified X handle, @TheTope_Ajayi,  said President Tinubu’s influence was pivotal to Buhari’s emergence not only as the APC presidential candidate, but also as president.

    Ajayi said Mustapha’s comment  paled into revisionism, stressing that he elevated falsehood over truth.

    He also said that Buhari would never have stood as the APC’s presidential candidate without the intervention and influence of President Tinubu, the National Leader of the party.

    Ajayi added: “There is no way he (Buhari) would have won the election to be president without first becoming the presidential candidate of his party APC.

    “General Buhari would not have won the APC primary at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, in 2014 without President Tinubu, who mobilised the APC governors and the Southwest delegates to move Buhari’s way.”

    He pointed out that despite Buhari’s strong base in the North, which routinely gave him 12 million votes in previous contests, he failed in three presidential elections — in 2003, 2007, and 2011 — until the 2015 coalition galvanised a new national appeal.

    Ajayi said “every effort and support that made it possible for President Buhari to win should never be diminished”, insisting that President Tinubu’s role in achieving that milestone should be recognised because it was decisive.

    Tinubu played a vital role, says Shehu

    Shehu, speaking on a television programme, clarified the statement made by the former SGF. He said Mustapha never mentioned Tinubu’s name.

    He said the former SGF was only explaining the statistical distribution of votes in 2015, adding that he never downplayed Tinubu’s role in Buhari’s victory.

    Shehu admitted that although Buhari had large votes in previous contests, he lacked the national spread required to win until the merger that gave birth to the APC.

    He explained that Buhari had contested three times without success because he could not secure the constitutional requirement of 25 per cent of votes in enough states.

    Shehu said the 2015 merger brought in Southern states that enabled him to meet the condition and ultimately secure victory.

    He added: “There was a lot of mischief and sensationalism in reporting. Mustapha did not mention Tinubu, and Buhari himself had always said it was the merger that brought them together to win. Boss Mustapha was only explaining the statistics of votes, not downplaying Tinubu’s role.

    “Buhari had contested three times and, though he had large numbers, he did not have the national spread needed to win. The merger brought states in the South that helped him achieve 25 per cent as prescribed by the Constitution.”

    How Tinubu assisted Buhari, by Onoh

    Former campaign spokesman of President Tinubu in the Southeast, Dr. Josef Onoh, said that the former SGF had limited knowledge of President Tinubu’s influence.

    He recalled: “Buhari’s political vehicles, such as the ANPP and CPC, lacked the national structure and southern alliances needed to challenge the PDP’s dominance. President Tinubu, as the leader of the then ACN, a party with a strong base in the Southwest, spearheaded the merger of many opposition parties.

    “This merger created a formidable opposition platform capable of rivaling the PDP’s national reach at that period.”

    Onoh said Buhari, in spite of his core 12 million northern votes, could not win previous elections due to lack of national spread as provided by the Constitution.

    He said it was Tinubu’s strategic vision and political acumen that saw the APC’s formation to fruition, thereby providing Buhari a broader electoral platform that enabled him to leverage his voter base by gaining access to the Southwest, where Tinubu had unparalleled influence.

    Mustapha wrong, says Aliyu

    An associate of Buhari, Farouk Aliyu, disagreed with Mustapha, saying that his account was inaccurate.

    Aliyu, who spoke on television, said while Buhari’s 12 million votes were consistent, they were not enough to secure victory until the 2015 alliance with Tinubu.

    He said: “My senior brother, Boss Mustapha, certainly got it wrong because I can’t even remember where he was at that time.”

    Aliyu accused some functionaries of the Buhari administration of trying to rewrite history despite not being present during the formative and decisive political struggles of the time.

    He said: “Unfortunately, there are many of these Buhari converts who were not with Buhari. I don’t want to mention names, but most of them happened by accident or fate to become what they became, and they are now trying to deconstruct history. It is not true.”

    Aliyu said Tinubu played a vital role in Buhari’s emergence, both as the APC presidential candidate and winner of the 2015 election.

    He said: “Tinubu assisted, contributed, and helped Muhammadu Buhari to get the ticket and by extension win the election, because he followed us to campaign all over the country. So, I don’t want issues to be created between Buhari and Tinubu, because there are no issues.”

    Aliyu, who was the Returning Officer for Buhari during the APC primary in Lagos, highlighted the behind-the-scenes support that Tinubu provided during that process.

    He rejected claims that Buhari did not repay Tinubu’s support in the lead-up to the 2023 election, saying that if Buhari wanted to sabotage the APC’s victory, he had several tools at his disposal to do so.

    Aliyu stressed: “If Muhammadu Buhari did not want APC to win the election, he would have done several things to ensure that they don’t win.”

    Aliyu assured that Buhari would once again support Tinubu’s candidacy in 2027, clarifying that there was no rift between the two leaders.

    On the coalition of opposition parties seeking to unseat Tinubu in 2027, Aliyu acknowledged that it was their constitutional right to contest elections.

    However, he said the APC is fully prepared to resist any threat to its dominance.

    ‘Mustapha’s acount not detailed’

    The former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, picked holes in Mustapha’s remarks, saying that it was a misrepresention of facts.

    He said in a statement that President Tinubu laid the foundation for the premium golden victory votes which made Buhari president.

    Okechukwu said: “May I hereby plead that there is no need for controversy because my friend, Boss Mustapha, should be excused as he was not with us in 2003 when Buhari began the presidential race.

    “He was in ACN and did not know the water which passed the realpolitik bridge. This is why he relied only on mathematical calculations of votes in 2015 and not on realpolitik.

    ““Then, in 2007 general elections one of the worst, Buhari was rigged out, which made the famous beneficiary, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to graciously admit that the election that brought him to power was flawed.

    “In 2011, when our merger with Tinubu’s ACN failed Buhari lost and we rekindled the ACN merger once again, luckily this time, it produced the premium golden victory votes that propelled our principal to Aso Rock.

    “I am witness of how this scenario played out when we, the delegates of the defunct CPC, were instructed to negotiate only with the ACN. And when we arrived at Chief Tom Ikimi’s Maitama house, we refused to negotiate with ANPP and Co. It took pleadings and adjournments before we all sat together to hatch the APC merger in July 2013. The rest they say is history.

    “Truly, without Asiwaju’s premium supplementary votes, no two/third spread and no victory.”

  • Presidency faults Boss Mustapha on Tinubu’s role in Buhari’s 2015 victory

    Presidency faults Boss Mustapha on Tinubu’s role in Buhari’s 2015 victory

    The Presidency has faulted comments by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, on the contribution of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the historic 2015 electoral victory of former President Muhammadu Buhari, describing the former SGF’s claims as a disservice to recent political history.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Tope Ajayi, on X stated categorically that President Tinubu’s influence was pivotal to Buhari’s emergence not just as a presidential candidate but ultimately as president.

    The Presidency’s reaction followed Mustapha’s remarks at the public presentation of “According to Mr. President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesman’s Experience” — a memoir by former presidential spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu — where the former SGF claimed that the merger which birthed the All Progressives Congress (APC) contributed only 3 million votes to the 15.4 million total votes that secured Buhari’s victory.

    Ajayi countered the assertion, saying it was an unfortunate and revisionist take on one of the most significant political shifts in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. 

    “Former SGF Boss Mustapha did a disservice to our recent history with that unnecessary glib at the book launch today,” he stated.

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    He emphasised that regardless of the eventual 2015 general election, Buhari would never have stood as the APC’s presidential candidate without the intervention and influence of then-national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu.

    “There is no way he [Buhari] would have won the election to be president without first becoming the presidential candidate of his party APC. 

    “General Buhari would not have won the APC primary election at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, in 2014 without President Tinubu, who mobilised the APC governors and the South West delegates to move Buhari’s way”, Ajayi wrote.

    Ajayi’s comments underscore the political consensus that Tinubu played a central role in uniting the different blocs that formed the APC, and in securing support for Buhari across the South-West — a region previously elusive to the former military ruler.

    He further pointed out that despite Buhari’s strong base in the North, which routinely gave him 12 million votes in previous contests, he failed in three presidential elections — in 2003, 2007, and 2011 — until the 2015 coalition galvanized new national appeal.

    “Every effort and support that made it possible for President Buhari to win should never be diminished,” Ajayi added, insisting that Tinubu’s role in achieving that milestone must be recognized for what it truly was — decisive.

    The 2015 election marked a watershed in Nigerian democracy, being the first time an incumbent president was defeated at the polls. 

    The APC’s victory was largely attributed to the strategic merger of major opposition parties — including Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and factions of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Ajayi’s rebuttal reflects growing concerns within the Presidency over attempts to revise or downplay the political capital and strategic investments made by Tinubu in repositioning the opposition and navigating Buhari’s path to power.

  • Merger not responsible for Buhari’s victory in 2015- Boss Mustapha

    Merger not responsible for Buhari’s victory in 2015- Boss Mustapha

    The immediate past Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha has claimed former President Muhammadu Buhari did not owe his victory in 2015 to the legacy parties that merged to formed the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014.

    He argued that the parties that merged to form APC only contributed a fraction of the votes that saw Buhari to victory.

    Mustapha, who spoke in keynote address at the launch of the book titled: “According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesman’s Experience”, by Malam Garba Shehu, the former Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Buhari, said the merger with the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), a faction of the All Progressives Ground Alliance (APGA) and defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) only produced three million votes in addition to Buhari’s existing 12 million votes in the North.

    He also arged that Buhari had always maintained his strong support base in the three previous presidential elections.

    Mustapha, who claimed to be a member of the defunct ACN, stressed that the 2014 merger was built around Buhari, largely because of his popularity and strong political base with several millions of votes from his strongholds.

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    Delivering his address he tagged, “President Muhammadu Buhari’s contributions to national development”, Mustapha said: “I do not intend to stir up any controversy. The merger in 2015, was built to create a Buhari presidency. Let us look at the statistics. In the 2003 election, it was the Obasanjo and Buhari presidential contest where Buhari recorded 2.7 million. In the next election, he got 12.7 million votes. In 2007, it came to 6.6 million, it went back to 12.2 million in 2011. 

    “When we were conceptualising the merger, what will give us a headstart and obviously, it is at the back of our consciousness that the merger with the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), though it has only one state, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has six states, All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) three states, and when you sum up the total votes that gave us the presidency in 2015, the aggregate of the total votes was 15.4 million. So, basically, what we brought to the table after the merger outside the Buhari 12.5 million votes was only three million votes”.

    He also stated that with the second book written by personal aides of Buhari since he left office about two years ago, attests to the loyalty, commitment and the way Buhari’s aides hold him in high esteem during and even after leaving office.

  • Buhari hails Boss Mustapha on birthday

    Buhari hails Boss Mustapha on birthday

    …praises his leadership and vision

    Former President Muhammadu Buhari has sent a warm birthday message to the ex-Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, praising his leadership and vision.

    In a statement issued by his spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Tuesday, September 3, Buhari congratulated Mustapha on his special day, saying: “Hearty congratulations and best wishes to Boss as you celebrate your birthday.”

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    The former President acknowledged Mustapha’s significant contributions to his administration, saying: “Your far-reaching vision and strong leadership paved the way for all that we achieved as an administration.”

    Buhari also prayed for Mustapha’s continued happiness, safety, and good health, saying: “I pray to God Almighty to keep you happy, safe, and healthy to continue to benefit your family and the country with your amazing work.”

    The message ended with the warm words: “Many Happy Returns.”

  • Buhari, Boss Mustapha’s signatures were forged, witness tells court in Emefiele‘s case

    Buhari, Boss Mustapha’s signatures were forged, witness tells court in Emefiele‘s case

    An EFCC witness, Bamaiyi Mairiga on Thursday told an FCT high court, Maitama that the signatures of former President Muhammadu Buhari and the immediate past Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, were forged.

    Mairiga, a forensic document examiner with the EFCC, said this while testifying in the ongoing trial of the immediate past governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, before Justice Hamza Muazu.

    Emefiele is charged with an amended 20-count charge bordering on conferment of corrupt advantage, forgery, criminal breach of trust, conspiracy to obtain by false pretence and obtaining money by false pretence.

    The sacked CBN governor is accused in the charge of forging a document titled: Re: Presidential Directive on Foreign Election Observer Missions dated 26 January, 2023 with Ref No. SGF.43/L.01/201 and purported same to have emanated from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to the Governor of the CBN.

    He is further alleged to have, on Feb. 8, 2023 knowingly obtain, by false pretence, 6,230,000.00 dollars by falsely representing that the SGF via a letter dated 26 January, 2023 with Ref No. SGF 43/L.01/201 requested the CBN to provide a contingent logistic advance in the sum of $6,230,000 “in line with President’s directive”.

    He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against him.

    Testifying as the sixth prosecution witness (PW6), Mairiga, said that he was on secondment to EFCC from the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).

    He told the court that the forensic department of EFCC received a request for the examination of some signatures that were forwarded to the department.

    Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN the witness told the court that as an expert, he knew as a fact that no two writers shared identical handwriting characteristics.

    He added,two writers could not produce their writing exactly and no writer could exceed their skill level.

    According to the PW6, “With this in mind, the signatures were examined for presence of life quality, slants, alignment, diacritical placement, pen movement, skill of execution and comparisons of class and individual characteristics against the specimen signatures.”

    Mairiga told the court that both the disputed and specimen signatures were analysed to identify individual characteristics present or absent in each of the signatures.

    The witness added that a comparison of the identified individual characteristics in both the disputed and specimen signatures were compared to establish similarities and dissimilarities.

    “To verify the entire process, further analysis was carried out using further methodology and a peer review by another expert so as to validate it in terms of reproductibility.

    “The conclusion from the analysis revealed that the disputed document showed evidence of forgery and copy act,” Mairiga told the court.

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    He said it was found out that the skill of execution was discovered to be different from that of the specimen signatures.

    The witness added that, “Specifically, the disputed signature and the specimen signatures were found to be different in respect of pen movement, skill of execution, loop formation. There was individual characteristic.

    “This is a confirmation that the author of the specimen signature did not write the signature of Muhammadu Buhari on the disputed document.”

    According to him, same analysis process led to the conclusion that, “the author of the specimen signature did not write the signature of Boss Mustapha on the disputed document.”

    Mairiga added that the process was reduced to a report, which was tendered as an exhibit before the court.

    Without any objection from the defence, the report was admitted and marked a second EXhibit FDE.

    Oyedepo asked the witness to identify the disputed document in the previous exhibits, marked Exhibit PD6 and Exhibit PD7.

    Mairiga told the court that the disputed document in Exhibit FDE was the document titled, “Presidential Directive on Foreign Election Observe Mission” purportedly signed by Muhammadu Buhari, which was marked “X” in the exhibit.

    He added that the second disputed document was marked “X1”, titled “Re: Presidential Directive on Foreign Election Observe Mission” purportedly signed by Boss Mustapha.

    While being cross examined by counsel for Emefiele, Matthew Burkaa ,SAN, the witness told the court that though he was on secondment from the Immigration, he reported daily for work at the forensic department of EFCC.

    He further told the court that he had been on secondment to the anti-corruption commission since 2018.

    He added that the Head, Forensic of EFCC is Benedict Agboye, who he said was an expert in question document analysis.

    The witness said it is preferable in question document analysis to compare original document to original instead of photocopy, adding that both original and photocopy could be compared.

    At a point during cross examination of the witness, Burkaa applied to the court to formally note the witness as being in court deliberately to mislead the court.

    “Court should take note of his (Mairiga) demeanour of deliberately refusing to answer questions from the defence and the court to mislead them,” Burkaa said.

    The prosecution counsel, however, countered this, saying the court has the responsibility of observing the demeanour of a witness.

    He added:”it is unfair for the defence to say that the witness is in court to mislead it.”

    Mairiga later told the court that in the report he issued, he analysed the signature of both former President Bihari and that of Boss Mustapha but did not analyse Emefiele’s signature.

    Meanwhile, Justice Muazu adjourned the continuation of hearing until March 11

    (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

  • My rise: Ex-SGF Boss Mustapha motivates youths on personal devt

    My rise: Ex-SGF Boss Mustapha motivates youths on personal devt

    Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, has encouraged youths to be diligent in utilizing advantages for their personal growth.

    Addressing a Grand Civic Reception arranged by the Hoba Elders Forum in honour of him and his predecessor, Babachir Lawal, both of whom served as SGF alternately during the eight years of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, he advised youths not to dwell on their current disadvantages.

    He recalled how he grew from the modest background of son of a local headmaster to becoming the country’s SGF, and told youths that with hard work, they could more easily achieve their destiny than they think.

    He said: “Do not think that the level of your father or where you hail from will determine your level in life. If the son of a headmaster (like me) would become administratively the number three man after the president and vice president, you can as well aspire to be president of Nigeria. Seek opportunities and work tenaciously.”

    Welcoming guests to the ceremony, acting chairman of the Hoba Elders Forum, Alheri Nyako, said the Grand Civic Reception for Boss Mustapha and Babachir Lawal, was a demonstration of how the Hoba people cherish the record of having produced the two SGFs who held office under President Muhammadu Buhari.

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    In a goodwill message to the ocassion, the Lamido of Adamawa, Muhammadu Barkindo Mustafa said the Adamawa Emirate is proud of both Boss Mustapha and Babachir Lawal, adding, “It is unprecedented that a state, let alone a local government area, would produce two secretaries to the federal government in a continuous stretch.”

    The Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, who also graced the event, described Boss Mustapha as a valuable member of the Buhari cabinet  who worked far and above the demands of his office.

    Mamman Tahir, the national vice chairman (northeast) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) when Boss Mustapha was the SGF, said Boss Mustapha was a critical stabilising force when the APC was in crisis.

    Boss Mustapha in his newly adorned traditional wear during the event at his birthplace place, Hong, at the weekend.

    A section of the crowd at the ceremony.