Boss Mustapha, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), has revealed that the merger of opposition parties which led to the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) contributed only about three million votes to the 15.4 million garnered by Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential election.
Speaking on Wednesday at the launch of “According to the President: Lessons From A Presidential Spokesman’s Experience” — a book authored by Garba Shehu, former senior special assistant on media and publicity to Buhari — Mustapha said Buhari’s personal political capital, not necessarily the merger structure, was the major force behind the APC’s electoral success.
“In 2003, Buhari got 12.7 million votes. In 2007, he got 6.6 million. In 2011, he got 12.2 million votes,” Mustapha recalled. “So by the time the merger happened in 2013, the APC only added about 3 million more votes to Buhari’s existing base. We ended up with 15.4 million votes in 2015, which means Buhari brought in 12.5 million of those himself.”
The 2015 presidential election marked a historic moment in Nigeria’s political history, as it was the first time an incumbent president was defeated at the polls. Buhari of the APC polled 15,424,921 votes, defeating then-President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 12,853,162 votes, according to official results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Mustapha acknowledged the critical role played by various political actors in making the merger a reality, noting that the success of the APC in 2015 could not be divorced from the contributions of party leaders who helped to unify fragmented opposition groups.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, then national leader of the ACN, and Senator Ali Modu Sheriff were among the key figures whose endorsement and participation brought credibility to the merger effort,” Mustapha said. “Their involvement gave direction to the formation of the APC and helped consolidate what would have otherwise been weak and disjointed efforts.”
He described the 2013 merger of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), along with a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), as “the most remarkable coalition-building in the history of Nigeria’s democracy.”
However, he argued that the real game-changer was Buhari’s national stature and reputation for integrity.
“His disciplined messaging, nationwide appeal, and perceived incorruptibility were central to that breakthrough,” Mustapha said. “Even though CPC had just one state, ACN had six, and ANPP had three, the movement behind Buhari was far more potent than any of the party structures.”
Mustapha also lauded Garba Shehu for documenting his eight-year journey with Buhari in the book, calling it “a crucial historical record of how power, perception, and communication intersect in governance.”
Other speakers at the event included Femi Adesina, former presidential spokesperson; Kashim Shettima, Vice President of Nigeria; and Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser.
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