Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, has stated that the political alliance engineered by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the decisive factor that cleared the path for Muhammadu Buhari to win the historic 2015 presidential election.

Speaking at a national dialogue event, the elder statesman reflected on Nigeria’s democratic journey, noting that before the strategic merger, General Buhari had contested the presidency multiple times without success due to a lack of broad regional consensus.

Gowon highlighted that Tinubu’s visionary leadership and political engineering in bringing together major regional political blocs under the banner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) effectively broke the long-standing political deadlock.

He emphasized that the alliance bridged critical regional divides, offering Nigerians a viable alternative and ultimately altering the trajectory of the nation’s contemporary political history. The former leader urged current political actors to emulate such deliberate, consensus-building strategies to foster national unity and sustainable development rather than heating up the polity with divisive rhetoric.