Ahead of 2023 general election in Nigeria and the All Progressive Congress (APC) convention/presidential primary, serious indications have emerged that Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari may have finally settled to endorse his Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, as his successor.
A reliable sources from the presidency told TimeAfrica that “Baba’s preferred choice is the VP. Osinbajo has sterling qualities; has been a loyal partner to the President and he will easily defeat the PDP nominee. It has always been clear to us that the VP is the President’s most probable successor”
The Osibanjo’s wide acceptability across the country and his loyalty to the administration, competence, brilliance and diligence at work are some of the reasons the President has chosen him among others. In addition, President Buhari is also enamored of the VP’s transparency and honesty in his official and private lives. “I can tell you that the President did not come to this decision casually. He has equally assessed all the other aspirants and he’s come to the conclusion that Prof Osinbajo is well ahead of others in many aspects,” a well-placed Presidency source said.
Again, there are visible celebrations among supporters of the Vice President since President Buhari addressed the 22 APC governors at the State House where he openly appealed to then to allow him nominate his successor.
President Buhari told the governors that the party had always encouraged second-term governors to implement a succession plan and promote a successor; and so he too has preferred successor, as part of his exit plan. APC’s National Chairman, Senator Adamu Abdullai, was also at the meeting.
According to him at the crucial meeting, “in keeping with the established internal policies of the Party and as we approach the Convention in a few days, therefore, I wish to solicit the reciprocity and support of the Governors and other stakeholders in picking my successor, who would fly the flag of our party for election into the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023”.
The President noted that it is essential for him to pick a successor so as to ensure victory at next year’s election and continuity of his administration’s agenda. He said: ”Our objective must be the victory of our party and our choice of candidate must be someone who would give the Nigerian masses a sense of victory and confidence even before the elections”. I understand that as soon as he returns to the country on Friday, June 3, President Buhari will meet with other stakeholders to ”make his choice well known”.
Although many Nigerians, especially APC members, have always suspected that the President would be supporting the Vice President, this is the first time he has given such a hint publicly and unmistakably. It is also instructive that of all the over 22 presidential aspirants in the party, it is only the VP that has been campaigning on the theme of continuity of this administration’s policies and programmes. In fact, most other aspirants are obliquely distancing themselves from the administration.
Conscious of the internal disaffection, the President urged the governors to stay united, focused and determined to win the election. His words: ”As we approach the Convention, I appeal to all of you to allow our interests to converge, our focus to remain on the changing dynamics of our environment, the expectations of our citizens and the global community. Our objective must be the victory of our party and our choice of candidate must be someone who would give the Nigerian masses a sense of victory and confidence even before the elections.”
Meanwhile, the strong contender, Senator Bola Tinubu is apparently uncomfortable with President Buhari’s body language as to his preferred candidate for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress
The former Governor of Lagos State, Senator Tinubu has even lampooned the President at a rally in Lagos for what he termed ”disappointing performance’.”
In his recent campaign talks while addressing party delegates at the Presidential Lodge in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Senator Tinubu said without his efforts President Buhari wouldn’t have emerged as the President in 2015, insisting that President Buhari reciprocates by nominating him as the Party Presidential candidate and support him to win in 2023 election.
“If not for me that stood behind Buhari, he wouldn’t have become the President. He tried the first time, he failed. The second time, he failed. The third, he failed,” Tinubu said, adding, “He even wept on national television and vowed never to contest again but I went to meet him in Kaduna and told him he will run again, I will stand by you and you will win, but you must not joke with Yorubas and he agreed.”
He said, Buhari would not have been president. It is over 25 years that I have been serving them.
“This is me telling you between my life and God Almighty, Buhari called me to be his Vice President. He said because the first time he contested, he picked Okadigbo, flamboyant, Catholic, but Nigerians didn’t vote for him.
“The second time, he picked another Igbo, Ume Ezeoke, ,Nigerians didn’t vote for him, that if he goes to bring the Pope to run as his vice, Nigerians won’t vote for him, but you Bola Tinubu, you have six governors, you have never lost an election before, come and be my vice.
“He knew all the calculations then favoured us, that is why he wanted me as his vice, but I told him to let us build the party first. And when we finished building the party, after we brought in people from the PDP, Saraki now saw those from the PDP will not get anything if Buhari , a Muslim becomes the President and me, also a Muslim becomes his vice, he won’t get the Senate President and the Senate President cannot also be a Muslim, that was how they started the campaign of calumny against me.
“And I told them that I have a candidate that is a Christian that I can nominate so that the party will not break, that was how I nominated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. I surrendered my right to him (Osinbajo).
“I was asked to submit three names, Yemi Cardozo, Wale Edun and Yemi Osinbajo, but I said that if I submitted three names, it is like open your door, for a thief. They may add the fourth name and choose that one. So I insisted on only one name. You are hearing this thing from me for the first time.”
Senator Bola Tinubu contends: “it is my time, I’m educated, I’m experienced. I have been serving people for a long time, bring me the presidency, it is my turn.”
Meanwhile, President Buhari may go ahead to announced his preferred candidate on his return to the country from Spain.
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