Festus Keyamo, the minister of state for labour and employment, claimed that Bola Tinubu, the APC’s presidential candidate, prevented Nigeria from becoming a one-party state.
Keyamo claimed that in 2003, Tinubu’s candour prevented the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from making Nigeria a one-party State.
This was revealed in Abuja on Tuesday by the spokesman for the APC Presidential Campaign council.
He recalled how the PDP “wiped out” all the states in Nigeria’s south and north, except Lagos State, which Tinubu led in 2003.
According to Keyamo, Tinubu’s insistence made Nigeria a multiparty democracy.
He said: “Without Tinubu, we will not have a multiparty democracy today. That’s the truth! He has earned it.
“If you are wise enough, 2003 was a turning point in Nigeria’s democracy. The PDP wiped out all the people and States in both the South and the North.”
Keyamo said when PDP failed to infiltrate Lagos State, they approached Tinubu to join the party.
Keyamo said “they came to him and said, ‘Oya, Asiwaju come to PDP so that you won’t have problems in 2007.
“It takes a strength of character and conviction to say ‘No, I won’t join the ruling party.’”
The minister stressed that Tinubu’s insistence brought President Muhammadu Buhari to power in 2015.
“From Lagos, he started to fight back before he stretched his hands over the Niger and today, we have General Buhari in power.
“That is why we have a multiparty democracy today. If not, this country would have ended up as a one-party State,” he said.
Tinubu was the governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007, during this period, Nigeria was under a PDP presidency.