Sule Lamido: Buhari wanted Ahmad Lawan to succeed him — he never liked Tinubu

Sule Lamido, an ex-governor of Jigawa, says former President Muhammadu never wanted Bola Tinubu to be his successor.

Lamido said Buhari wanted Ahmad Lawan, a former senate president, to succeed him.

In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, Lamido said Buhari was “naive and absurd” in his political calculation, adding that the former president wanted a northern successor after he had spent eight years.

The former governor said Buhari did not trust his vice-president, Yemi Osinbajo, to succeed him.

“Prior to the convention, he (Tinubu) was in Abeokuta, Ogun state, where he boasted that it was his turn to rule Nigeria. And Buhari, very naive, was watching,” Lamido said.

“He never liked Tinubu. There was somebody he wanted. He didn’t even trust his own vice president, Professor (Yemi) Osinbajo; he wanted Ahmed Lawan, but his calculation was absurd.

“You have done eight years for the north, and you wanted another northerner for another eight years! No. Maybe later, but there are some dynamics which you can’t alter, not in Nigeria of today.

“The president of Nigeria, after being in office for eight years, lacked the courage to push through his anointed choice.

“He was there at the convention, and Tinubu, that he never liked, and never believed in, emerged.

“Tinubu knows that his victory wasn’t from Buhari; therefore, he owes him nothing.

“He wasn’t the choice of Afenifere; Obasanjo never liked him, but he became president. All the other groups, including the governors, were there, but he won. He was determined to demolish all obstacles, and he crushed them.”

The former governor said it will be “very difficult” for Tinubu to be defeated in the 2027 presidential election.

He added that Tinubu defeated all obstacles to become president in 2023, including a sitting president, who did not want him.

“We are working hard, but it is a huge task. It is going to be difficult with Tinubu, with his hold on the country, on the economy, and his audacity to say this is where I stand against Nigeria’s interest. It is something else,” he said.

“Tinubu is very daring; he is his own creation, he is a self-made man, right from Chicago, what he went through on the streets.

“Look at how he was able to fight the Alliance for Democracy and Afenifere and then Obasanjo.”