The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has expressed concern over what it described as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s “high-profile political movements” for the 2023 Presidential election, which it said may have been sanctioned by President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to Tinubu camp sources, Osinbajo could be Buhari’s secret weapon, as he revealed in a recent television appearance.
During the interview, the President declined to nominate his presidential candidate for 2023, claiming that doing so would put the aspirant in jeopardy.
The Tinubu camp filed the case in the wake of high-level endorsements and gesticulations by canvassers for the Vice-purported President’s presidential bid in 2023. The endorsements have been particularly strong in the north, and they have recently spread to the south, with Delta State serving as the first step.
Tinubu’s camp, which has pledged not to bring the subject up with the White House, is irritated by how Osinbajo’s name is being spoken and projected everywhere for the 2023 presidential race while his boss, Buhari, looks the other way.
“You cannot tell me that the President does not know anything about this and that his deputy is being worked up to take his office and he is ignorant? No, no,” a highly placed confidant of Tinubu revealed yesterday.
In response to the reports, he stated that Osinbajo was focused on completing the tasks assigned to him by the Buhari administration.
The Tinubu camp, on the other hand, was unconcerned about what it claimed was a hidden motive, with a source adding,“How can your subordinate be moving about like that as if you have anointed him for your office? You send him here and there to expose him?
“If you have a wife and she is misbehaving, who am I to complain when you the husband are indifferent? So, we will keep on watching.”
Meeting
When asked if Osinbajo and Tinubu had met about the Vice-stated President’s ambition, a source who typically should know said, “I don’t know, but you should know.”
The Tinubu camp’s concerns, it was learned, have been exacerbated by the APC’s tardiness in holding a National Convention to elect a new set of national leaders.
Following the standoff that has paralyzed the convocation, it was reported over the weekend that the Presidency may have begun considering its possibilities for the party’s National Chairman. One of the major issues is the allegation that Tinubu had a hand in the nominations, including Senator Tanko Al-Makura, who had been regarded the Presidency’s favorite.
Outside of the stated hopefuls, one source disclosed three names, including a former Minister in the Buhari administration who was also a principal officer in the House of Representatives from the North-Central.
Mr. Rotimi Amaechi (Transport Minister), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti Governor), Babatunde Fashola (Works and Housing Minister), and Emeka Nwajiuba, Minister of State for Education, have all been touted as probable Buhari favorites.
Endorsement
The Tinubu team is set to argue for a fair playing field as a minimum demand after apparently not receiving Buhari’s backing at their meeting last week.
However, the camp has promised not to file a complaint with the President over the matter, with associates of the APC National Leader requesting an equal playing field for all presidential candidates.
“If they continue like this, we are not tied to the apron strings of the party, at least Asiwaju has a political history,” a source said as he noted that the kind of political marriage that brought up the APC was possible should Atiku Abubakar also be pushed out of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
An Atiku associate dismissed the claim yesterday.
“We know where the talk is coming from. Yes, Asiwaju has strong pillars in the APC and it is easy to assert that he could join Waziri (Atiku) to form an unbeatable alliance, but Atiku does not have that perspective. Atiku is abiding in PDP whatever is the case,” the Atiku associate said in rebuffing insinuations of an Atiku – Tinubu alliance.
