If the report from the Presidency is anything to go by, President Muhammadu Buhari, has concluded plans to dump Vice President, Yemi Obasanjo, ahead of the 2019 General Election, Post-Nigeria gathered.
According to reports, Buhari has agreed to settle for a top politician in the South-East, who is presently a serving Governor.
The decision to dump Osinbajo, is allegedly connected to the recent comment made by the Vice President, who had faulted the recently launched biography of Buhari, where he (Osinbajo), disclosed that he was ‘nominated’ to become Buhari’s running mate in 2015.
Sources averred that the comments had not gone down well with Buhari.
The book, written by Professor John Paden, and titled: ‘Muhammadu Buhari: The Challenges of Leadership in Nigeria’, claimed that the All Progressives Congress, APC, National Leader, Bola Tinubu pressured the President against choosing Osinbajo as running mate, in the 2015 Presidential election.
Faulting Buhari’s biography, Osinbajo gave an insight into how he became the number two citizen of Nigeria, though he was not a politician, in the midst of the intrigues, and build up to the 2015 general elections.
Osinbajo’s explanation came last Wednesday night, against the backdrop of the controversy trailing how he was nominated, and his eventual emergence as the Vice President.
Speaking at a dinner organised in honour of over 200 graduates and beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programmes, at the Presidential Villa, Osinbajo gave an indication that he was not in the reckoning abinitio.
His word, “I was in a group of young men and women, and one of them asked the question; how did I become Vice President, I was never a politician, or anything like that.“So, I tried to explain; it is quite simple that someone somewhere has to recommend you. Somebody somewhere has to give you a helping hand, whether to be a Vice President, or to be an Aircraft Pilot, or to be an Engineer; somebody somewhere has to give you an opportunity.”
Reacting to Osinbajo’s statement on Monday, the editorial Board Chairman of the Nation Newspaper, Sam Omatseye, who is also a core loyalist to Tinubu said: “After all the hoopla, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, came with the jab. It was a simple sentence: “I was nominated.”
“He sentenced the controversy to a permanent rest. The so-called authorised biographer of PMB, was exposed as a phony scholar. Even if you write an authorised biography, it is no excuse to lie. He lacked rigour, or the curiosity of enquiry. He should have consulted Osinbajo himself. He didn’t. No one should do research under such a Professor.“With that sentence, Osinbajo demystified a scholar, punctured a cabal of malevolent naysayers, and spoke to history.“He spoke with the conviction of an Evangelist, the clarity of a Lawyer, and the comeback of an avenging angel. He mentioned no names, and abused no one. He merely said he was nominated. He was not a politician. He belonged to a group, and someone has to put you forward to such a high office. And who else could have done it!”
