Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has blamed his defeat to President Bola Tinubu in the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary on his decision to follow advice from the late President Muhammadu Buhari not to campaign ahead of the contest or negotiate with delegates.

Amaechi disclosed this during an interview on Mainland 98.3FM’s The Situation Room programme in Lagos on Friday.

He said, “The first mistake that I made at that primary was that I listened to President Buhari. He said to me, ‘Don’t campaign. Don’t do anything. I will announce you as my candidate.’

“He told me that. He put it in writing. When I write my book, I’ll put it out.”

Amaechi said he was, however, wrong to have believed Buhari’s support would give him an advantage over other aspirants.

“Now, I didn’t do deals. So I would have promised you vice-president, promised you SGF, and then would have gone for this primary, I would have possibly won. I would have had governors on my side.

“Because I didn’t do deals, Tinubu had the chance to do deals,” he said.

The African Democratic Congress vice-presidential candidate also alleged that religion could have influenced the 2022 APC presidential primary.

He claimed that Tinubu’s supporters used religious appeals to gain support among delegates, particularly in the North.

According to him, a group of Yoruba Muslims from the South approached governors in the Northwest and appealed to them to support Tinubu on religious grounds.

The former governor also mentioned former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, whom he said initially supported his presidential ambition but later backed Tinubu.

“El-Rufai was my supporter. El-Rufai, in a viral video, said this is done for the faith,” he said.

Despite his claims about the role of religion in the contest, Amaechi said he would not use religious identity to mobilise political support, insisting that he believed in national unity.

He argued that encouraging Nigerians to vote for candidates based on shared religious beliefs could deepen divisions in the country.

He said, “I wouldn’t want to run that kind of federation. Catholics are 35 million in Nigeria. I wouldn’t want to go to the Catholic Church and say, please announce me. Tell them that all Catholics must go out and vote Amaechi.

“It will cause confusion. It will cause problems in the country. That makes me a nationalist,” he said.

Tinubu defeated Amaechi and other aspirants at the APC presidential primary held at Eagle Square, Abuja, in June 2022, polling 1,271 votes against Amaechi’s 316. (Channels)