By John Ogunsemore
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Joe Igbokwe has faulted former presidential aide, Senator Babafemi Ojudu’s claim on President Bola Tinubu’s emergence.
Appearing on Edmund Obilo’s State Affairs podcast on Monday, Ojudu claimed Tinubu outsmarted his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, to clinch the 2023 presidential ticket of APC.
Ojudu, who served in former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s office, noted that Buhari never supported his principal for the party’s ticket.
“I knew Osinbajo was going to lose the primary. I saw it coming.
“Because of the system we operated and still operating, I kept saying at our meeting that all of the efforts we are making like traveling around, convincing people, and addressing delegates is only 40 percent.
“60 percent of it lies in Buhari’s hands unless and until Buhari mobilises people around him, the governors, his aides, we are going nowhere.
“I used to refer to Buhari as a one-man majority and he never mobilised his team towards Osinbajo and I think Tinubu outsmarted him in so many different ways,” Ojudu said.
Reacting, Igbokwe said Buhari could not have jettisoned his relationship with Tinubu to support any other aspirant.
“Knowing the relationship between Asiwaju PBAT and PMB there is no way PMB would have abandoned PBAT for someone else. PBAT put everything down both human and material resources to practically create way for PMB to emerge as president of Nigeria in 2015. The plan for PMB to be President was hatched and kickstarted in Abeokuta,” he said.
