BREAKING: You Didn’t Make Buhari President — Rotimi Amaechi Disputes Claims Made By President Tinubu

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According to report by TheCable on Friday, May 22, 2026, former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi publicly disputed claims made by President Bola Tinubu suggesting that he was solely responsible for the 2015 electoral success of the late President Muhammadu Buhari.

​The former minister argued that President Tinubu’s assertion, which posits that Buhari would not have achieved the presidency without his personal intervention, ignores the collective efforts of various stakeholders who were instrumental in the formation of the All Progressives Congress and the execution of the 2015 campaign.

​Amaechi, who served as the Director-General of Buhari’s presidential campaign, stated that he was unable to refute these claims while serving as a minister in the Buhari administration because such a public disagreement could have been seen as an act of professional betrayal at the time.

​Explaining his silence during his tenure as minister, Amaechi stated, “That will be suicidal because Buhari could fire you. So I couldn’t have said no then. He wasn’t the president. I couldn’t tell him, You are wrong. You didn’t make President Buhari president.”

​Reflecting on his active role during that period, Amaechi remarked, “Not only was I the DG of the campaign, but everybody will bear witness that I did all the battle.”

​He described his extensive political mobilization efforts, which included crisscrossing the country as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to secure the necessary political support for the coalition that defeated the incumbent party.

​Regarding the legacy of the administration, Amaechi noted that while the change mantra of the All Progressives Congress was successful in securing power, the actual governance outcomes recorded during Buhari’s tenure were mixed across different sectors of the Nigerian economy.

​This recent commentary from the former Rivers State governor highlights ongoing internal debates within Nigeria’s political class regarding the history and contributions of key figures who helped build the party.