Amaechi made the remarks during an interview on Arise News’ Prime Time on Friday while speaking as a presidential aspirant under the African Democratic Congress.
The former minister was responding to longstanding comments by Tinubu, who repeatedly stated during his 2023 presidential campaign that Buhari would not have become president without his political influence and support.
Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers State, explained that while serving in Buhari’s cabinet, he avoided publicly disputing Tinubu’s claim to prevent possible repercussions from the former president.
“When we decided to form the APC, while I was a minister, (Tinubu) was claiming he made Buhari president and I couldn’t respond because I was a minister under President Buhari. That would have been suicidal because Buhari could fire you,” Amaechi said.
He continued, “So I couldn’t have said, ‘You are wrong.’ He didn’t make President Buhari president. Not only was I the DG of the campaign, but everybody will bear witness that I did all the battle.
“I led the Governors’ Forum, criss-crossed the country fighting here and there trying to get Nigerians to know that this is the time for change.”
Amaechi served as Director-General of Buhari’s presidential campaigns in both 2015 and 2019 and was among the prominent political figures involved in the defection of several Peoples Democratic Party governors between 2013 and 2014.
The defections contributed significantly to the formation of the All Progressives Congress, the opposition coalition that defeated then-President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 general election.
Tinubu, however, also played a major role in the formation of the APC through the merger of key opposition blocs, including his former Action Congress of Nigeria, which helped build the coalition that eventually ended the PDP’s 16-year rule at the federal level.