The Special Adviser to the President on Public Communications and Orientation, Sunday Dare, on Thursday hailed President Bola Tinubu’s role in the emergence of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Before dislodging the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government in 2015, Buhari ran unsuccessfully for presidency in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 elections.
It finally took talks and a political merger between Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and some other parties to birth the All Progressives Congress (APC) which later won the 2015 presidential election.
Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Dare said Buhari wouldn’t have won the election without Tinubu’s support.
“If you look at the role Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu played in the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari and I can say clearly that without Tinubu’s role in forming the party, making the platform to be there, President Buhari would not have emerged,” he said.
When asked if he sold the idea of fielding Buhari as the then-APC presidential candidate, the former minister replied in the affirmative.
“It couldn’t have been only me, it was a team. The electoral victories we won in 2015 and the one in 2019 had the writing of President Tinubu. We are a party and beyond me, several other people were also invited,” he stated.
During the show, he also weighed in on Buhari’s performance in whose government he served as Minister of Sports and Youth Development.
He however refused to say whether Buhari failed in his eight-year tenure. The former minister explained that government is a continuum.
“Buhari came, did his bit and moved on. President Obasanjo did his bit and moved on, Yar’adua came, did his bit and moved on. Jonathan came, did his bit and moved on.
“President Bola Tinubu is there with the requisite experience, courage to take tough decisions that other presidents did not take,” he added.
Dare stated that the President should be commended for removing the subsidy on petrol and other reforms aimed at positioning the nation’s economy.