PRESIDENTIAL Aide, Temitope Ajayi has sharply countered claims made by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, dismissing the suggestion that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu played no role in the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s president in 2015.
Ajayi, who serves as Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, responded via a detailed post on his official social media account following Mustapha’s comments at a recent public event.
The former SGF had claimed that Tinubu did not “make Buhari president,” sparking reactions from members of the current administration.
Ajayi, in his rebuttal, acknowledged that while Buhari had a consistent 12 million-strong support base in Northern Nigeria, that alone had proved insufficient in three prior elections – 2003, 2007, and 2011 – which the former military ruler lost.
He argued that Buhari’s eventual victory in 2015 was only made possible due to Tinubu’s crucial intervention during the pivotal All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary election held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos in December 2014.
“Let’s even leave the general election that the then General Buhari won to become president in 2015,” Ajayi began in his post.
“There is no way he would have won the election to be president without first becoming the presidential candidate of his party, APC.”
He stressed that Buhari’s path to the APC ticket would have been blocked without Tinubu’s political clout and strategic mobilization of key party stakeholders, especially in the South West.
“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,” he said.
Ajayi accused Mustapha of attempting to rewrite recent political history for reasons best known to him.
He labelled the remarks made at the book launch as “a disservice to our recent history” and warned against diminishing the contributions of key actors in the 2015 political movement that brought the APC to power.
“Every effort and support that made it possible for President Buhari to win should never be diminished,” Ajayi added.
Buhari’s eventual victory in 2015 marked a historic moment, becoming the first time in Nigeria’s history that an incumbent president was unseated through the ballot box.
Many political analysts continue to credit the APC alliance, particularly the merger and strategic partnerships spearheaded by Tinubu, as the linchpin of that success.
Boss Mustapha’s comments come amid what appears to be growing tensions within former allies of the Buhari administration and members of the current Tinubu-led government.
As narratives around the legacy of 2015 continue to shift, analysts say political revisionism is becoming more common in light of the 2027 election horizon.
For now, Ajayi’s rebuttal serves as a stern reminder that the inner workings of political victories are often more layered than individual contributions, and that in the story of 2015, Bola Tinubu’s role remains a central chapter—at least, according to the current presidency.