Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha has said that opposition parties – Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) – were only able to garner three million out of 15.4 million votes for Muhammdu Bihari in 2015.
The three parties were part of the merger that formed the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the 2015 election which ousted Goodluck Jonathan as president.
Mustapha made this disclosure at the launch of a book authored by Garba Shehu, a former presidential aide in Abuja.
The former SGF said the coalition formation was what created a path for the first democratic defeat of an incumbent President.
Recall that Buhari, a former member of the CPC emerged victorious against Jonathan who contested under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as an incumbent President.
However, Mustapha said, “President Buhari’s integrity, national stature, and disciplined messaging were central to that breakthrough.
“In the 2003 elections, it was the Obasanjo-Buhari contest where Buhari recorded 2.7 million votes. In the next elections, he got 12.7 million votes. In 2007, it came to 6.6 million, then back to 12.2 million in 2011,” Mustapha said.
He also stated that the CPC only had one State while the ACN and the ANPP had six and three states.
“When you sum up the total votes that gave us the presidency in 2015, the aggregate was 15.4 million.
“So, basically, what we brought to the table after the merger outside the Buhari 12.5 million votes was three million.
“His endorsement and participation, along with other party leaders such as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, lent credibility and direction to the merger, helping to unify disparate party factions under the banner of the All Progressives Congress (APC),” he added.
