Lawyer and politician Kenneth Okonkwo has disclosed new details about the political negotiations that shaped Nigeria’s 2015 presidential election.
He revealed that the late President Muhammadu Buhari, after winning the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election, initially considered choosing a fellow Muslim as his running mate.
Okonkwo said the idea was later dropped after Buhari consulted with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who placed a firm condition on his support.
In a video shared by Symfoni TV, he stated, “In 2015, when Buhari won the primary election, he was contemplating choosing a fellow Muslim. Buhari went to Atiku to ask for his support, but Atiku told him, ‘I will support you on one condition: you cannot choose a fellow Muslim to run,’” Okonkwo recounted.
That condition, according to him, was pivotal in the emergence of Yemi Osinbajo, a Christian and respected professor of law, as Buhari’s vice-presidential candidate.
The Buhari-Osinbajo ticket later secured a historic victory against then-incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, marking the first time in Nigeria’s democratic history that an opposition party unseated a sitting president.
Okonkwo emphasized that Atiku’s insistence on religious inclusivity prevented what could have been a divisive political outcome in a multi-faith nation.