The reasons why coalition negotiations between President Bola Tinubu and his predecessor, the late Muhammadu Buhari, failed in 2011 have been disclosed by former Information Minister Lai Mohammed.
In an interview with Edmund Obilo, a political content developer, Mohammed stated that they couldn’t agree on the running mate.
Recall that the Action Congress of Nigeria (ANCN), which included President Tinubu and his team, the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), and the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), which included Buhari and his allies, became the current All Progressives Congress (APC).
Lai Mohammed claims that there was conflict between them since the late Buhari had already selected Pastor Tunde Bakare as his running mate.
“Now, we in ACN made a strong case that, hey, we had influence over six states. You are in charge of just one state, CPC. We are even prepared to enter the CPC and subject ourselves to your platform.
“Use all of your colors, but you are refusing to give us the one thing we are requesting? We shall be accused by our people of betraying them.
We parted ways over that issue, and naturally, we both suffered terrible losses in 2011. Both Tinubu and Buhari realized by 2012 how much they needed one other, according to Lai Mohammed.
