Former President Muhammadu Buhari remains steadfastly loyal to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and harbours no rift with President Bola Tinubu, according to his spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu.
Shehu made this disclosure on Monday during an appearance on Trust TV’s 30 Minutes, dismissing speculations of a fractured relationship between the two leaders.
“APC came together and gave him two terms, for which he has remained grateful,” Shehu stated, quoting the former president Buhari directly: “‘I will never be ungrateful, I will never betray the party that gave me two terms in office.’”
Shehu emphasised that claims of discord between the Buhari and Tinubu administrations are purely speculative and lack any formal or official basis saying Buhari will never betray APC as a party.
He reiterated Buhari’s unwavering commitment to the APC, the party that ultimately brought him to power after three unsuccessful attempts at the presidency.
“When people are entitled to hold their opinion, and your interpretation of it is purely your entitlement,” Shehu said, adding, “I don’t think in a formal and official sense, anybody would talk about distrust or mistrust or a façade between the Buhari administration and the Tinubu administration.”
He explained that for Muhammadu Buhari, his identity is fundamentally tied to being an APC member.
“He does not forget the fact that he ran one, two, three times and failed to get the presidency until they cobbled together the APC,” Shehu noted, highlighting Buhari’s deep appreciation for the platform the party provided.
Responding to public commentary on perceived tensions within the ruling party, Shehu affirmed that Buhari’s camp is not disturbed by such speculation.
“We see statements; we read them when people say these things. Do we get disturbed? I don’t think that is the word,” he stated.
The former Presidential aide further elaborated on the significant effort involved in establishing the APC in 2014, suggesting that those who witnessed its arduous formation are unlikely to undermine its stability now.
“It took a lot of doing, energy, and sacrifice for the APC to have been put in place, for the desperate opposition elements to come together,” he recalled.
“They tried one, two, three times, and they failed. But by this time, they came together in 2014, formed a party, and ran in 2014. They won. Which means, in effect, that the people who were around, who saw how much sweat it took to build this coalition—I think they are not likely to be the ones who are trying to fracture it.”
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