Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has disclosed how a dramatic late-night meeting with Bola Tinubu became the turning point that secured Muhammadu Buhari’s presidential ticket ahead of the 2015 elections.
Speaking in an interview on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels Television, Lawal recounted how he and late APC chieftain Inuwa Abdulkadir convinced Tinubu to back Buhari just days before the party’s 2014 convention—a decision he said reshaped Nigeria’s political landscape.
According to Lawal, Buhari’s prospects looked bleak at the time, with key northern politicians hesitant to support him due to fears that his austere leadership style would disrupt their political patronage system.
“Northwest people were afraid of him. We have a lifestyle where we are leeches of government, and Buhari might not allow that,” Lawal said jokingly. “I won’t come to the Villa to greet the president. It’s annoying. I’ll go back with the Ghana Must Go everywhere. That’s our thing—we’ll stop!”
Faced with this resistance, Lawal and Abdulkadir analyzed the race and realized that Rochas Okorocha, then Imo State governor, could emerge as a compromise candidate, potentially splitting the northern vote.
“Okorocha seemed to be one southerner that northerners would love,” Lawal explained. “If he got Southeast votes, North-Central Christian votes, and some Igbo votes from Delta and Rivers, he could win the ticket.”
To prevent this scenario, the two men rushed to Tinubu’s residence around 3 a.m. to make an urgent appeal.
“We told him: You have no choice but to support Buhari,” Lawal recalled. “Even if Buhari didn’t campaign, he would get 11 million votes. We just needed the Southwest’s additional votes to push him over the line.”
Tinubu, persuaded by their calculations, threw his weight behind Buhari—a move that instantly shifted the convention’s dynamics. Lawal revealed that some Southwest delegates who had initially taken “incentives” from another candidate were forced to return the money once Tinubu made his stance clear.
“When the Northwest realized the Southwest was backing Buhari, they fell in line,” Lawal said. “Nobody wanted to be on the wrong side of a winning candidate.”
While acknowledging Tinubu’s pivotal role in Buhari’s victory, Lawal, now a vocal opposition figure, ruled out any reconciliation with the current administration.
“If I were serving in this government, I’d either have resigned, been sacked, or killed,” he stated bluntly. “I’d rather keep my integrity than make a U-turn.”
On rotational presidency, Lawal argued that while competence should ideally prevail, political stability sometimes requires compromise.
“The best candidate may have to step aside for the sake of national cohesion,” he said. “But in an ideal world, we should always aim for the best.”
His revelations provide a rare glimpse into the high-stakes negotiations that shaped Nigeria’s most consequential political transition in recent history.