Sunday Dare, President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Public Communications and Orientation, has asserted that former President Muhammadu Buhari’s historic 2015 election victory was due to Bola Tinubu’s pivotal influence.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Dare, who previously served as Minister of Sports and Youth Development, underscored Tinubu’s instrumental role in Buhari’s ascent to power.

Reflecting on Buhari’s repeated but unsuccessful bids for the presidency in 2003, 2007, and 2011, Dare explained that a coalition of political parties—Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and other factions—was essential in creating the All Progressives Congress (APC), which ultimately defeated the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015.

“If you look at the role Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu played in the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari, I can say clearly that without Tinubu’s role in forming the party, making the platform to be there, President Buhari would not have emerged,” Dare said, emphasising the importance of Tinubu’s political alliances.

Dare further noted that the 2015 and 2019 electoral victories influenced Tinubu’s strategic vision, saying, “It couldn’t have been only me; it was a team. The electoral victories we won in 2015 and the one in 2019 had the writing of President Tinubu.”

Additionally, Dare lauded Tinubu’s recent economic reforms, including the removal of the petrol subsidy, aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s economy.