Reported by: Ijeoma .G | Edited by: Henry Owen
Former Minister of Transportation and ex-Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not play a decisive role in the emergence of former President Muhammadu Buhari, rejecting repeated claims credited to Tinubu that he helped “make Buhari president” in 2015.
Amaechi made the remarks while reflecting on internal political dynamics within the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the 2015 election cycle, a period that led to the historic defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the federal level.
He said that while he was serving as a minister under Buhari, he could not publicly respond to claims about Tinubu’s influence in Buhari’s emergence because of political sensitivity and the risk of dismissal from office.
According to him, speaking against such narratives at the time would have been politically dangerous given the authority of the presidency and the realities of cabinet discipline.
Amaechi stated that the claim that Tinubu “made Buhari president” was inaccurate, insisting that multiple actors contributed to Buhari’s electoral victory in 2015, including himself, who served as the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.
He emphasized that his role in coordinating the campaign was central to the opposition victory, adding that several political stakeholders were actively involved in building the coalition that unseated the PDP government at the time.
Amaechi, who governed Rivers State from 2007 to 2015 before serving as Minister of Transportation from 2015 to 2022, has remained a key figure in APC politics and one of the founding members of the coalition that merged to form the party in 2013.
The APC’s victory in 2015 marked the first time an opposition party defeated a sitting president in Nigeria’s democratic history, with Muhammadu Buhari emerging as president after defeating then-incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.
Over the years, political debates have persisted over the extent of influence different APC leaders had in Buhari’s emergence, particularly between party founders and campaign coordinators.
Amaechi’s latest comments add to ongoing political narratives within Nigeria’s ruling party regarding historical credit for electoral victories and internal leadership dynamics.
As of Friday, May 23, 2026, there has been no official response from the Presidency or from Bola Ahmed Tinubu regarding Amaechi’s latest remarks.
Political observers note that such statements reflect continuing internal tensions and competing historical accounts among senior figures of the APC, especially as Nigeria moves closer to future election cycles.
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