The National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (North‑West), Malam Salihu Lukman, said on Tuesday that forces outside the APC were behind the failed attempt to impose former President Goodluck Jonathan and Central Bank Governor Dr. Godwin Emefiele as candidates to block Asiwaju Bola Tinubu from securing the party’s presidential ticket. Lukman explained that the combined efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari (retired), the National Working Committee and the resilience of APC governors thwarted the plot before it could materialise. He made these remarks in a statement titled “Electoral contests and public expectations: Matching hopes with realities.”
Tinubu won the APC primary in June 2022 with 1,271 votes, defeating former Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and twelve other aspirants. Osinbajo and Amaechi received 235 and 316 votes respectively, placing second and third. According to Lukman, when it became clear that Jonathan and Emefiele’s “kites” would not fly, the masterminds—who were not APC members— positioned Senate President Ahmad Lawan as a consensus candidate for President Buhari to endorse. He noted that Tinubu’s emergence resulted from a strong internal contest, not from a pre‑arranged consensus.
Lukman added that many aspirants lobbied influential figures around the president, eventually convincing Buhari to nominate Senator Abdullahi Adamu as national chairman. After Adamu’s election, negotiations for a “consensus” presidential candidate began. The scheming extended beyond the APC, involving former President Goodluck Jonathan and Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele, neither of whom were party members. Influential outsiders—including “hundred eminent businessmen, political, media and civil‑society leaders, 14 current governors, 13 former governors and three former Senate presidents”—mobilised around April 2022. When this effort failed, Senate President Ahmad Lawan was promoted as the consensus candidate, a move announced by Adamu on the eve of the convention that produced Tinubu.
Lukman said aggrieved NWC members and some progressive governors opposed the push for another northern president, arguing it ignored popular demand for a power shift and risked instability. Northern APC governors had already expressed resistance to a northern candidate. These dynamics, combined with Tinubu’s personal qualities—his record as a businessman, politician and former Lagos governor (1999‑2007), and his reputation as a defender of democracy—tilted support toward him. He survived numerous attacks on his integrity, including investigations by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, challenges to his academic credentials by the late lawyer Gani Fawehinmi, and scrutiny from journalists and activists, none of which produced conclusive evidence.
Lukman concluded that President Buhari’s decision to open the contest allowed Tinubu to win decisively. When asked for comment, the chief spokesman for the Tinubu‑Shettima presidential campaign declined to respond. APC Publicity Director Bala Ibrahim told reporters that the party had moved on and did not wish to reopen old wounds. He emphasized that the party’s candidate‑selection process had been followed, and once a candidate emerges, the party must fully support him. Ibrahim said the pre‑Tinubu controversies belong in the history books; the party’s collective will now backs Tinubu, and all members are working to ensure his success. He added that any discussion of past “manufacturing” is irrelevant now that the candidate is “ready for the market,” and the APC is simply awaiting Tinubu’s inauguration on May 29.
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