Sam Omatseye, a veteran journalist and columnist has said that former President Muhammadu Buhari never wanted Bola Tinubu to succeed him as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Omatseye said Buhari and some of his cabals had plotted to ensure that Tinubu did not ascend power after the former’s second tenure as president.
Speaking on Edmund Obilo’s podcast, State Affairs, Omatseye said Buhari was scared of having Tinubu as a successor because he felt the former Lagos State governor was a ‘strong man’.
His words, “Buhari didn’t want him because he was afraid of him. The people around him didn’t want him. Remember that after Buhari became president, within a year, there was an estrangement between Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Muhammadu Buhari, and the story even went so far as to state that they wanted to remove his pass to the State House.
“That probably happened or didn’t happen. I’m not sure of that, but that was the level of the estrangement,” he said.
He, however, stated that the former military Head of State had a change of mind after it dawned on him that his second term ambition would be under threat without inputs from Tinubu.
According to the journalist, Buhari reconsolidated his relationship with Tinubu to secure his re-election in 2019.
He further state that the ousting of then national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole was part of Buhari’s plot against Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
“One of the first things they did was to take over the party structure, that is, the party’s top brands, from him because he found that Adam Oshiomhole was his man. And if Adam Oshiomhole is the head of the party, it will be difficult.
“It was not him alone. Some governors didn’t want that to happen; they didn’t want Asiwaju to still ride high in the party. Of course, the cabal around him and the men around Buhari didn’t want him. So they removed Oshiomhole,” Omatseye said.
