Buhari, Oyinlola, Tinubu and Obasanjo

Former Governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola has revealed how former President, Olusegun Obasanjo stopped the National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu from becoming President Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate in 2015.

He said there was already an agreement between Buhari and Tinubu to run as President and Vice President in 2015 in a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

Oyinlola said the agreement was concealed from a good number of party leaders until it surfaced after Buhari had gotten the ticket.

He said the rumour came out and that some of them felt danger was looming with the idea of Muslim-Muslim ticket, adding that to further add to their fears, Buhari on one occasion said there was nothing wrong in the Muslim-Muslim presidential arrangement, saying after all he governed with Tunde Idiagbon.

Oyinlola, in an interview with The Punch, said that statement made them to know it (the Muslim-Muslim idea) was a fact.

He said on two occasions, Tinubu mentioned it in his presence that they agreed.

“If you recall one trending video back then, where it was said that Buhari had jettisoned what they agreed on, that is the room he was sleeping when Buhari was looking for the post,” he said,

Oyinlola added that they Obasanjo about the matter and that taking power from an incumbent government was a tough task “and we must not give room for excuse and miss the target. We told him they (Buhari and Tinubu) were thinking of a Muslim-Muslim ticket. That was when Baba (Obasanjo) said people should not take the sensibilities of Nigerians for granted.”

According to the former governor, after Obasanjo’s intervention, they started saying it in his presence that Obasanjo frustrated the plan to get Tinubu on the ticket for 2015, but that he always acted as if he did not hear them.

He said at a stakeholders meeting, the issue of the running mate was discussed again, saying that former governor of Gombe State, Danjuma Goje, also cautioned against the Muslim-Muslim ticket, especially as the party needed all the votes it could get from different parts of the country.