Buhari brought 12.5m votes to merger — parties added only N3m in 2015, says
Boss Mustapha

A former secretary to the federal government (SGF), Boss Mustapha has asserted that the three opposition parties—Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP)—which were part of the merger that formed the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013, contributed only three million votes to the 15.4 million secured by former President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 elections.

Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday at the launch of Garba Shehu’s book, ‘According to the President: Lessons From A Presidential Spokesman’s Experience,’ the former SGF admitted that the coalition-building paved the way for the first democratic defeat of an incumbent ruling party in Nigeria’s history.

He alleged that former President, Buhari defeated former President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 elections after the opposition parties formed an alliance which gave rise to APC.

According to Mustapha, “President Buhari’s integrity, national stature, and disciplined messaging were central to that breakthrough.”

“In the 2003 elections, it was the Obasanjo-Buhari contest where Buhari recorded 2.7 million votes. In the next elections, he got 12.7 million votes. In 2007, it came to 6.6 million, then back to 12.2 million in 2011,” he said.

“Though the CPC had only one state, the ACN had six states, and the ANPP had three states. When you sum up the total votes that gave us the presidency in 2015, the aggregate was 15.4 million.

“So, basically, what we brought to the table after the merger outside the Buhari 12.5 million votes was three million.”

Mustapha said the involvement of key figures such as President Bola Tinubu and Ali Modu Sheriff, former governor of Borno, lent credibility and direction to the merger.

“His endorsement and participation, along with other party leaders such as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senator Ali Modu Sherif, lent credibility and direction to the merger, helping to unify disparate party factions under the banner of the All Progressives Congress (APC),” he said.