2023 Presidency: Tinubu Kicks As Osinbajo Meets APC Chairman, Govs In Aso Rock
- Demands presidential ticket as compensation
- Boasts of making Buhari, Osinbajo, Abiodun relevant
BY EDMOND ODOK – With eyes on the All Progressives Congress (APC), National Convention to elect its presidential candidate for the 2023 elections, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has met behind closed doors with the Party’s National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and six governors of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF).
This is as one of the leading presidential aspirants and former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu insists on being compensated with the ticket having sacrificed so much for the party in ‘making’ President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo politically relevant today
According to insider sources, the meeting, which took place on Thursday evening at the Vice President’s residence, did not have any open agenda for public consumption.
Professor Osinbajo’s engagement with Senator Adamu and the governors comes just days after the Chief John Odigie Oyegun-led Committee concluded its two-day assignment of screening 24 aspirants currently jostling for the APC presidential ticket.
Though the Governors’ identities remained unknown as of press time, presidency sources hinted that they may be part of the team picked to brief the Vice President on preparations for the Convention so far since the President is out of town.
However, another insider hinted that it is also difficult to rule out political talks as the governors were carefully picked to represent the six geo-political zones so that all stakeholders and interests are fully covered in the discussions.
The ruling party has scheduled its Convention for choosing its torch bearer to hold between 6th and 8th June in Eagle Square Abuja and anxiety continues to mount as the party awaits President Buhari’s return from his official visit to Madrid, Spain.
Before jetting out of the country, the President met with the 22 APC governors to emphasize the need for them and the party to accord him the privilege of picking his own successor.
As expected, the President’s position has continued to generate so much heat within the party even as the APC National Leader and top contender in the presidential race, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is now spitting fire and openly demanding compensation for all his sacrifices in ‘making’ the President, Vice President and others in the party
Feelers from close aides indicate that Tinubu’s outburst may not be unconnected with worries and anxiety by his Campaign Organisation and Support Groups of being outsmarted given the mindset of the party and the President on consensus candidate as a way of reducing acrimony and managing the process of electing the presidential flag bearer.
Addressing delegates and party stakeholders in Ogun State, the homestead of Vice President Osinbajo, the former Lagos State Governor said having sacrificed so much for the party and others, the time has now come for him to be compensated as a right.
Pointedly, he told the Ogun State delegates to vote for him at the primaries, saying; “It is my time. I’m educated, I’m experienced. I have been serving you for a long time, give me the opportunity. It is my turn.”
Further boasting about his contributions to the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in 2015 as well as Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun in 2019, Tinubu specifically declared that he made the threesome what they are today politically.
He said, “… Buhari would not have been president. It is over 25 years that I have been serving them. This one sitting by me, Dapo Abiodun, could not have become the governor without me. …I nominated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. I surrendered my right to him (Osinbajo).
