ABUJA – Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, has attributed the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s 2015 electoral victory to the personal popularity and consistent support base of Muhammadu Buhari, rather than the numerical strength of the merging opposition parties.
Speaking on Wednesday at the launch of According to the President: Lessons From A Presidential Spokesman’s Experience, a book authored by former presidential aide Garba Shehu, Mustapha described the 2013 APC merger as a strategic coalition that merely amplified Buhari’s existing voter appeal.
“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 recounted.
He stressed that while the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) brought political structures into the alliance, Buhari’s influence remained the dominant force in securing the 15.4 million votes that won the 2015 election.
“When you sum up the total votes that gave us the presidency in 2015, the aggregate was 15.4 million,” Mustapha said. “So, basically, what we brought to the table after the merger outside the Buhari 12.5 million votes was three million.”
Mustapha acknowledged that the merger was crucial for national coordination, and credited leaders like President Bola Tinubu and former Borno State governor Ali Modu Sheriff for helping to align diverse interests under the APC umbrella.
He also noted that the 2015 outcome marked a turning point in Nigeria’s democratic history — the first peaceful handover of power from a sitting government to the opposition.
“The merger worked because it married Buhari’s loyal following with the organisational reach of other parties. But let’s not forget, it was Buhari’s standing with the people that provided the foundation,” Mustapha concluded.
