Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal, has spoken on how key political figures, including himself, persuaded President Bola Tinubu to support former President Muhammadu Buhari’s presidential bid in the final days leading up to the 2014 All Progressives Congress (APC) convention.

Speaking on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels Television, on Friday, Lawal, who is now a staunch member of the new coalition of opposition politicians, said intense deliberations and strategic calculations led to Tinubu’s crucial endorsement of Buhari, a move he said changed the trajectory of Nigeria’s political history.

“The truth of this matter is that Bola had a huge input in the emergence of Buhari as president,” Lawal said.

“He contributed much. Not necessarily financially, but using his social skills, you know, to get people, to convince people.”

Lawal painted a picture of a chaotic pre-convention landscape, with Buhari’s chances looking dim.

“We could see that Buhari didn’t have delegates. Even in Katsina, we were not sure where they were going, because Atiku was there, and the North-West was there. And then there was Kwankwaso too, and this other guy from Niger. But these were serious people, serious candidates.”

According to Lawal, Buhari’s austere persona made Northern elites uneasy.

“People were afraid. Northwest people were afraid of him. We have a lifestyle that we are leeches of government, and Buhari might not allow that type of thing,” he explained, adding jokingly, “I won’t come to the Villa to greet the president. It’s annoying. I’ll go back with the Ghana Must Go everywhere. That’s our thing—we’ll stop!”

Faced with this resistance, Lawal said he and his late colleague, Inuwa Abdulkadir, who was then National Vice Chairman (North-West) of the APC, decided on a bold move: a late-night strategy session with Tinubu.

“We sat down—myself and Abdulkadir—we said, ‘What is going to happen to this convention on Saturday?’ There were problems,” he recounted.

Their analysis led them to consider Rochas Okorocha, a southern Christian and Igbo man who, in their view, was surprisingly palatable to Northern voters due to his Northern upbringing and philanthropic records.

“He seemed to be one southerner that northerners would love, and were comfortable with. So we calculated that if Okorocha were to get all the Southeast votes and the North Central, Northern Christian votes… and add to it one or two Igbo votes from Delta, from Rivers, and so on, he would carry the ticket. That was our permutation.”

Realizing this could split the northern vote and jeopardize the Buhari candidacy, they headed to Tinubu’s residence around 3 a.m. to make the case.

“We laid this on the table,” Lawal said. “See, you people, you have to support, you have no choice but to support this man [Buhari]. Even if he campaigns or not… he will have 11 million votes whether he is on the ticket or not. So all we need is a little bit less than 5 million votes to match it up, to scale the closing line. And why did we enter the merger? To get these votes, the balance of these votes from the Southwest, six states. And of course, Edo was an appendage of the six states at that time.”

The argument, Lawal said, was compelling. “We argued and argued and argued. And [Asiwaju] saw the logic. It’s better to join the winning ticket rather than support the losing ticket. And he saw the calculation. He saw the logic and agreed—the Southwest would deliver at the primaries.”

Lawal revealed that some Southwest delegates had received “incentives” from a rival candidate, but were forced to return the money once Tinubu made his choice.

“Let me tell you, it got to a stage all the people—they had collected some incentive from one of the candidates—I won’t mention [his name]. But they were forced to, they had to refund this money after the Southwest had taken a decision on where they were going,” he said.

With Tinubu’s backing secured, the tide turned. “That’s how we got to the convention now sure that Buhari would win. And when the Northwest people realized that the Southwest was going to go with Buhari, it was better not to anger Buhari. Because if we don’t vote for him and he’s going to win, we’re in trouble.”