A chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Buba Galadima, has alleged that the former President, Muhammadu Buhari, never wanted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to succeed him.
Speaking on African Independent Television (AIT), Galadima made startling claims about Buhari’s actions within the All Progressives Congress (APC), suggesting that the former president went as far as influencing a constitutional review in a bid to sideline key figures, including himself.
Galadima accused Buhari of orchestrating a sub-committee aimed at amending the APC constitution to prevent certain party members, particularly secretaries from the legacy parties that merged to form the APC from becoming members of the Board of Trustees (BOT) and the National Working Committee (NWC).
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According to him, the plan was a subtle move to exclude people with an institutional memory of the party’s formation.
“In the APC constitution, secretaries of the merging parties—CPC, ACN—were meant to be members of the BOT and NWC. When Buhari saw me, he said he didn’t want to see me anywhere. He caused a sub-committee to be formed to reinvigorate the constitution and appointed Tinubu as the chairman,” Galadima said.
He further claimed that Tinubu was aware of Buhari’s intentions and chose not to implement the directive.
“As I speak to you, the committee has not sat, has not submitted any report, and the constitution remains untouched. That’s partly why Buhari didn’t want Tinubu to succeed him—because he refused to remove me,” Galadima added.
The NNPP stalwart stated that the APC’s Board of Trustees has not convened in over 12 years, and the NWC only met two or three times during Buhari’s administration.
When pressed on his assertion that Buhari did not want Tinubu as president, Galadima responded, “Is there anybody who doesn’t know? Tinubu himself knows. But he’s being magnanimous as a statesman and doesn’t want to say his mind.”
The comments by Galadima have stirred renewed interest in the behind-the-scenes political dynamics that preceded the 2023 general elections and may reignite conversations around intra-party politics in the ruling APC.
