- Asiwaju Bola Tinubu gave insight into the strategies APC used to defeat the PDP in 2015

- He noted that the card reader played a significant role to curb voters' fraud

- The APC leader said Muhammadu Buhari was the best candidate

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who is national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has revealed the strategies put in place to oust the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from power in 2015.

The PDP which has been the dominant party in Nigeria since the return to democracy in 1999 lost the presidency and the majority positions in the National Assembly to the then main opposition party, APC.

Daily Post reports that Tinubu spoke on the theme Strategic Leadership: “My political Experiences”, at the 25th Course of the National Defence College in Abuja on Wednesday, January 25.

He said the APC had to devise several strategies to win in 2015 as Nigerians were clamouring for change and one of them was not to contest as separate parties.

He said: “We had tried that path before; it led to defeat in 2011. A strategic rethink was needed, to attain the goal of ousting the PDP and placing Nigeria on the road to progressive governance. The strategic linchpin would be the merger of opposition parties.

“Time is inadequate to recount the complex journey toward the merger. My firm position was that only a merger would work. Anything short of that would disintegrate due to a combination of PDP enticement and the internal pressures arising from the strong identification of many politicians with their legacy parties. An ad-hoc alliance would be put asunder by these factors.

“Our push for a merger of the old parties into a new entity carried the day. We would join hands to form a collective identity. The CPC and my party, ACN, ANPP along with progressive elements of the APGA formed the party. Key elements of the PDP would later join. For this amalgamation to work, it had to be more than an anti-PDP gathering. It had to present a genuine and positive message that spoke to people’s hopes and aspirations.”

“We developed the theme of change as our strategic message. The broom became an apt party symbol. We would sweep out the old, sweep in the new and work hard towards prosperity for our country.

“We fashioned a tripartite campaign and strategy message – security, economy and corruption. We would drive these three messages home as if with military artillery. However, we have only our leadership and strategic hammer.”

“Still all of this would have been to no avail without the right candidate. Given his stature and reputation for integrity, honest dealing and patriotic commitment, there really was no other candidate to have carried the day, than then General Muhammadu Buhari.

“Yet, even with such a figure as our candidate, we foresaw the need to construct a public relations strategy to counter false accusations of religious intolerance and parochialism that would be hurled at him. We did this with great success because we prepared for these attacks beforehand…

“We did not win the election by accident. I had studied the resulting and voting patterns of all the prior elections since 1999. Our team did an honest assessment and detailed assessment of our strengths and weaknesses and those of our opponents.

“To win, we knew the votes we needed and identified the likely places and demographic constituencies from which the bulk of those votes must come. We did not waste time chasing votes we would not get. We concentrated on our strengths and the other side’s weaknesses, realising that our defence must be as tight as if we are inside the War College here in Abuja.

“The other factor is one that is little spoken of. Our early insistence on biometric voter registration and the use of the card reader on voting day were of strategic importance as it is essential to safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process. In past elections, PDP vote padding had been massive in certain areas. We had to curtail this malpractice to achieve the objective of making the election as fair as possible, allowing us a chance to win.

“The card reader minimized the rigger’s ability to steal the election. Before its use, results could be written without regard to the number of actual people who cast ballots. In a polling booth where 50 people actually showed up to vote, the rigger could falsify figures and claim that 500 votes were cast. With the card reader, the rigger could steal no more than 50 votes. The tallies could not be inflated beyond the number of actual voters.

“Upon these strategic pillars, we built historic victory. For the first time in the nation’s history, incumbent president and party lost the national election. This historic transition further cemented our democratic evolving tradition and structures, advancing us closer to the overarching vision that guides my political actions.

“In relative short order, the Buhari administration has done what the prior government seem unable to do. With the courage and dedication of the military, Boko Haram has been subdued. Also, notable and significant progress is being made against corruption. Press freedoms and civil liberties are protected, putting to lie those who cried that President Buhari would not respect democracy and rule of law.’’