Former Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, has disclosed why alliance talks between President Bola Tinubu and his predecessor, the late Muhammadu Buhari, broke down in 2011.
Speaking in an interview with political content creator Edmund Obilo, Mohammed explained that the talks failed because the parties could not agree on who would be the running mate.
He noted that what eventually became the current All Progressives Congress emerged from a coalition of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), led by Tinubu and his team; the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP); and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), which had Buhari and his supporters.
According to Lai Mohammed, late Buhari had already chosen Pastor Tunde Bakare to be his running mate, which brought disagreement amongst them.
“Now we in ACN argued powerfully that, look, we control six states. You, CPC, control only one state. We are even ready to submit ourselves to your platform and contest under the CPC.
“Use your colours and everything, and we’re asking of you for only one thing, and you are not giving us? Our people will accuse us that we have sold them out.
“On that point, we went out separate ways, and of course, we both lost woefully again in 2011. By 2012, it became crystal clear to both Tinubu and Buhari as that they needed one another,” Lai Mohammed said.