2023: Galadima Speaks On ‘Agreement’ For Tinubu To Take Over From Buhari

Nigerian politician and elder statesman, Buba Galadima said there was an understanding that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu would emerge as the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate for 2023.

Galadima claimed that there was a gentleman agreement with Tinubu to become the next leader of the country after President Muhammadu Buhari.

The elder statesman said it was agreed during the formation of APC in 2014 that if the former Lagos governor would help Buhari win the 2015 general elections, he would become the Vice-President.

Galadima stated that Tinubu however failed to emerge as Buhari’s running mate in 2015 because of the Muslim-Muslim ticket. He added that the former Lagos governor instead nominated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

He claimed that it was agreed at a meeting held in 2014 that if Buhari becomes President and finishes his tenure, he would ensure that Tinubu become his successor.

Galadima revealed that Tinubu came to the meeting with a former governor while Buhari came with a sitting governor and both parties formed an agreement.

In an interview with The Punch, the NNPP chieftain said that any agreement the presidential aspirant had with Buhari and other APC leaders should be honoured.

He said: “Not perfectly an agreement, but there was an understanding because Tinubu with one other person and the President also with another person sat down and the information we got was that they agreed that if Tinubu would help Buhari win, he would become the Vice-President. When that was not possible, they called him to ask him to assist because of the exigencies of the time, which wouldn’t have allowed for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“They said that whatever he does, he should deploy and make sure that Buhari becomes President and that when he (Buhari) is going, he would also do whatever he would in his powers to assist Tinubu to become President. It looks like they are now going back on that understanding. And a promise is a promise whether written or unwritten because if you can subvert it, God knows your heart. And God never accepts betrayal. When you are committed, whether it is sour or bitter, or tasty, you have to swallow it.

“Now, it looks like they want to go back on that understanding with Tinubu. This is why Tinubu is bitter and I understand this bitterness, because of what has happened to him, which I told him years back. I told him what was going to happen to him. And everything that I predicted those years is now happening. My prayer for him (Tinubu) is that he should come out of this unscathed and healthy. That is my biggest prayer for him.

“But for him, it looks like he has already been subverted. The only way he can get his momentum is if the party agrees to do primaries. If the party agrees to go to the primaries, I have no doubt in my mind that Tinubu may emerge victorious, but as far as the consensus which they want to adopt is concerned, he is out of the game.”