Oby Ezekwesili on Tuesday said she turned down an offer to run on a presidential ticket with Muhammadu Buhari in 2011.

Mr. Buhari sought and contested but lost the 2011 presidential election as the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change. The party was later amongst the legacy platforms, alongside ACN and ANPP, that became the APC in 2013.

In 2015, APC presented Mr. Buhari as its candidate and went on to make history as the first opposition party to win presidential elections in Nigeria.

Ms. Ezekwesili supported Mr. Buhari to be president in 2015, but soon became his top critic and sought to run against him in 2019.

Ms. Ezekwesili disclosed on Tuesday that she was amongst those approached to run with Mr. Buhari in his fated 2011 presidential bid.

The former education minister’s comments came after Lagos-based preacher Tunde Bakare, who was the eventual running mate to Mr. Buhari in that election, said Ms. Ezekwesili rejected the offer to run alongside Mr. Buhari in 2011.

“Many People: Please tell us, is it true you actually rejected the offer to be Vice Presidential Candidate to Buhari as Pastor Bakare @T_Bakare said? Me: Yes it is true,” Mrs. Ezekwesili said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Her comments could anger supporters of the president, who have often dismissed the BringBackOurGirls campaigner as a frivolous and clout-seeking politician.