Dr Umar Ardo is a former chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC). In this interview, he speaks on his role in the formation of the party ahead of the past 2015 elections, and his disagreement with Rotimi Amaechi over who played the most significant role in securing the party’s historic victory, among other issues EVINCE UHUREBOR reports

You’ve said quite emphatically that the idea that ultimately led to the APC victory in 2015 was your baby, and that it was conceived around a Muhammadu Buhari-Bola Tinubu alliance. Can you walk us through what exactly your role was, and where the evidence lies for those who may see this as competing revisionist history?

No one single person can claim to have made somebody president. It will have to be a large number of people and groups that came together to make somebody president. But every idea starts with a single person, and to this extent, the idea of forming the APC for Buhari’s contest in 2015, was mine. For you to understand this, I need to take you back to 2011.

On April 13, 2011, when Buhari was closing his presidential campaign at the International Conference Centre, now the Tinubu Conference Centre, he said two things. The text that he read, I drafted that text. But he gave it to one of his close aides, who later became Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who now made amends, which I didn’t know until he delivered it.

Then I saw the amends that were made. And in that text, Buhari said two things. He said, if he loses the 2011 presidential election, he would not go to tribunal and that his party will not go to tribunal because he had gone to tribunal two times before and it yielded nothing. And then second, that he would not contest again if he loses 2011.

He said that on the April 23, 2011. On April 16, we went to the polls and on April 18, Attahiru Jega, then chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), declared the results and pronounced President Goodluck Jonathan as the winner of that election. Given the statementt of Buhari on April 13, that would have been the end. It was then that I went to meet him. I sat him down. Don’t forget, during the 2011 election, it was a staggered election. First, was the National Assembly, then the Presidential, then the governorship and House of Assembly.

So they did the National Assembly, they did the Presidential, and then the Governorship was now pending. At that time, his house was milling with so many people. But I met him, and we sat down with him, two of us, and I said to him: Sir, you didn’t work with me before. I think this statement that you made, that you won’t contest again, is wrong. You should contest again in 2015. The reason why you have never won an election is because you have never gone outside the North.

The five PDP governors that joined the APC did not materially change the equation in the 2015 presidential election. The only change was in Kwara

You never got one polling unit outside Northern Nigeria. You need one zone in the South. With a zone in the South, you will win the election. You have 12 million votes. So, you can get one zone in the South, and you can get the South-West. And you can get the South-West only if you get Tinubu as your vice presidential candidate.

In 2011, Tinubu wanted to be the vice presidential candidate. Somehow they did not, and then they went and brought Pastor Tunde Bakare, and with that, Tinubu went ahead and held some kind of consultations with Jonathan, and then he supported Jonathan. So I said, if you can do that, but before you do so, we need to go to tribunal.

Go to tribunal in order to keep your political flag flying. Let’s see what happens at the tribunal. If you lose in the tribunal, which is likely, you would have also used the tribunal to calm down tension in the North. Don’t forget, when they declared Jonathan president in 2011, there was violence all over Northern Nigeria. People were killed, so going to tribunal will also be enough strategy.

So I said: All I need from you is your yes. If you agree, I will do the homework and then get the financing. For more than nearly an hour, he went around talking to me about all the problems he had, but at the end of the day, he said: ‘I won’t do it. He said, I’ve already gone public, so I won’t do it. I’m sorry.’ But if you looked at his countenance, you could see that he really agreed with the idea

What happened subsequently?

Subsequently, he went to the tribunal. And with that going to tribunal, there was something that happened that is instructive in forming that alliance, the removal of Justice Ayo Salami. Justice Salami was removed by President Jonathan because he was told that Salami was really going to nullify the election, seeing that Salami had given four out of the six states to Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Now, the removal of Salami broke the relationship between President Jonathan and Bola Tinubu.

And then I said, go and approach Tinubu and give him the vice presidency, and then form what I then called ACPC, Action Congress for Progressive Change. I said don’t worry about ANPP because you really don’t need ANPP at that time. Why? Because who were the real stakeholders of ANPP, and who made it? Ali Modu Sheriff in Borno; he hasn’t been with you but you have always won Borno. Shekarau in Kano; he has never been with you.

Did he go to Tinubu or was it Tinubu who came to him?

I don’t know who went to who but Buhari then called me and said he has met with Tinubu and that Tinubu has agreed.

Rotimi Amechi told us he did the heavy lifting as Director General of Buhari’s campaign, and effectively delivered victory in 2015, and that nobody can deny the fact that he did a lot of heavy lifting as Director General. But you’ve responded in the statement you issued by saying that Amechi joined the APC late and brought relatively few votes from his home state. Are you arguing that Amaechi is exaggerating his role or fundamentally misrepresenting history?

I think he is. He didn’t form APC. The APC was formed and registered in July 2013. Amaechi and the five governors left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convention ground on August 27 and formed New PDP; that is 27 days later. The New PDP subsequently joined the APC in November.

Normally, there are negotiations leading up to somebody joining something. Don’t you think it is possible that he might have been discussing the formation of some kind of alliance party before actually officially joining the party?

He could have. But let me show you this. Five governors joined APC from PDP – Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Amaechi (Rivers), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto).

Now, Amaechi brought 60,000 votes from his own state, about 3.8 per cent, which is negligible. Then Nyako was impeached. He was outside the country in exile, so there was very little that he could have done there. Then Kwankwaso; Buhari had always won Kano. In fact, it is on account of Buhari that Kwankwaso lost his governorship in 2003.

So, Buhari would have won Kano anyway. Then Sokoto, Buhari would have always won Sokoto, whether Wamakko joined or not. So, the five PDP governors that joined the APC did not materially change the equation in the 2015 presidential election. The only change was in Kwara. If Bukola Saraki and the governor did not join APC, APC would not have won Kwara. But then, how many votes did it get.

But you’re making a presumption that because somebody brought this number of votes from their own state. I mean, he was Director General of the campaign and that meant he went around the entire country. So, it’s not just the votes from his home state…

Yes, but the point I’m trying to dispute is that he is claiming that Tinubu did not make Buhari president. I can tell you emphatically without Tinubu, there would never have even been the APC because it was conceived by me and it was conceived on the basis of Buhari being president and Tinubu being vice president, and they would have won that election anyway.

Are you saying then that Tinubu was the single most important political architect of the 2015 transition of power?

Yes! Well, Tinubu was the second most important architect.

Do you mean second to Buhari?

No; second to me because if I hadn’t conceived the idea, convinced Buhari on it, he would not have met Tinubu, and the allies would not have come in. So, the architect of it is me and I did it on the basis of Buhari and Tinubu. Without Tinubu, it would have been impossible.

Your criticism of Amaechi appears quite personal because in the statement you issued, you said he should shut up. Is this merely a dispute over historical accuracy or does it reflect a sort of deeper fracture among those who built the APC coalition?

In the first place, I never was an APC member at all. I conceived the idea, and remained in PDP in order to use my position in PDP to make sure that PDP goes out but immediately Buhari became president, he shut me out.

So, with this, you know, I remained in PDP until 2022, when Uche Secondus was removed without just cause and we went to court and the court refused to listen. I later PDP and joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Now, I’m trying to see how I can reform the African Democratic Alliance (ADA).