Throwback: Amaechi Recounts How Tinubu Helped Save APC’s 2015 Bid

In a revealing throwback, former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, once recounted a tense moment during the build-up to the 2015 general elections when President Bola Tinubu, then a key figure in the opposition, played a decisive role in salvaging the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign.

Speaking on the political crisis that nearly derailed the party’s convention, Amaechi recalled a heated encounter with Tinubu.

“One day, Asiwaju got angry with me. He was very angry,” Amaechi said. “I went to his house with El-Rufai and knelt before him, pleading, ‘Please don’t do this. If we lose, I’m finished.’ I told him he’d be leading the history of the first civilian coup.”

According to Amaechi, the crisis was resolved when he urged Tinubu to lead the party to the national convention. “He turned to me and said, ‘Let’s go,’ and truly, by 8 pm that night, the convention started,” he recounted.

The convention ultimately paved the way for APC’s landmark victory in the 2015 presidential election, unseating the incumbent for the first time in Nigeria’s democratic history.