A founding member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Osita Okechukwu, has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘kitchen cabinet’ was divided when a former national chairman of the party, Chief John-Odigie Oyegun, was made chairman of the APC presidential screening committee prior to the 2023 general election.
He also dispelled the claim by a former Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojudu, that former President Buhari never supported Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
Ojudu had said Buhari did not back Tinubu, despite their friendship and political alliance, but that Tinubu “Outmaneuvered him in several ways.”
But Okechukwu in a statement yesterday said, “Yes, there was split opinion on whether to support Tinubu or not and Buhari sided with the camp led by then Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, quoting the Holy Quran that he cannot ditch the man who stood by him through thick and thin. Rather, let the delegates elect whoever is their choice at Eagle Square.
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“The argument centered on whether some of the 23 presidential aspirants including Tinubu should be disqualified following a plethora of allegations flying around. The only truth in Ojudu’s statement is that Buhari didn’t mobilise for any of the 23 aspirants, not even for Senator Ahmed Lawan.
“Truly, if Buhari was in support of Lawan, he could have disclosed this to the APC Governors Forum who prodded him serially to tell them who to vote for.”
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