Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has claimed that late former President Muhammadu Buhari repeatedly expressed concerns about President Bola Tinubu’s educational background and genealogy but later acknowledged Tinubu’s pivotal role in helping him become Nigeria’s president.
Lawal made the disclosure during an interview with Symfoni TV while reflecting on the political events that led to Buhari’s emergence as the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate ahead of the 2015 general election.
According to him, Buhari had access to intelligence reports containing information about Tinubu’s background and occasionally complained about the unclear background. However, Lawal said he constantly reminded Buhari that Tinubu had stood by him when it mattered most politically.
“So anytime Buhari complained about Tinubu, I would bring up the history, and Buhari, being a man of conscience, would agree. The complaints were about Tinubu’s upbringing and education.
“He had access to files on Tinubu, but I told him, ‘You knew all this when you asked for his support, and he gave it to us. So why bite the finger that fed us?’ Buhari agreed and changed. I was one of the people who knew firsthand what Tinubu did to facilitate Buhari’s presidency, and I never let Buhari forget it,” Lawal said.
The former SGF explained that Tinubu played a decisive role during the APC presidential primary in 2014 after political calculations initially suggested that Buhari might lose the party’s ticket.
He recalled that the North-West political bloc was backing former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, while the South-East supported former Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha, who appeared to have enough delegates to win the APC presidential ticket. According to Lawal, the South-West was waiting for Tinubu’s direction.
Lawal said he and other party leaders first approached former Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako and former Sokoto State Governor Aliyu Wamakko to persuade them to support Buhari, but they made little progress. They later met Tinubu at night and presented him with data showing Buhari’s previous electoral performance and support base in northern Nigeria.
“On the day of the APC convention in 2014, the North West was supporting Kwankwaso and Atiku while the South West was waiting for Tinubu’s direction. The South East was supporting Okorocha, and he was likely to win the presidential ticket based on our numbers.
“So we decided to visit Governor Nyako and Governor Wamakko to convince them to support Buhari. They didn’t listen much, so we went to Tinubu at night. We met with him, showed him the data on Buhari’s previous votes in the North, and convinced him to align the South West with Buhari.
“That night, Bola didn’t sleep. He went back to Governor Nyako and Governor Wamakko and persuaded both to support Buhari. That was when we got the North West votes back for Buhari.
“At the convention, Buhari had the North West and South West and picked up votes from other zones while the other candidates split the remaining votes,” he said.
The former SGF had earlier alleged that Tinubu mobilised campaign funds, personally financed the vice-presidential campaign of Yemi Osinbajo and spent more than ₦2 billion to hire political consultants linked to former United States President Barack Obama to strengthen the APC campaign.
He also claimed Tinubu personally funded major campaign expenses instead of relying on the party’s campaign purse and played a leading role in delivering the South-West political support that helped Buhari defeat then-President Goodluck Jonathan.
Tinubu also played a key role in the formation of the APC through the merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and members of the breakaway new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), creating the coalition that eventually won the 2015 presidential election.
Buhari completed his second term in office in May 2023 and handed over to Tinubu as president. He died in London on July 13, 2025, after a prolonged illness and was buried two days later in his hometown of Daura, Katsina State.
