EXCLUSIVE: Osinbajo may declare for 2023 Presidency before Easter

Barring any last-minute shift, Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo is said to have scheduled a formal declaration of his intention to run for the office of the President of Nigeria in 2023, on or before Easter.

The atmosphere has been filled with the expectation of Prof Osinbajo formally throwing his hat into the ring as he joins a retinue of other political gladiators, including his ‘godfather’, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, aspiring to clinch the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), for the presidential election.

RELIABLESOURCENG.COM gathered from very authoritative source that the Vice President was to have announced his intention before now but for the uncertainties that surrounded the just concluded APC national convention.

“With the convention now out of the way, the coast is clear for the VP to make his intention to take over from his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari, known to Nigerians.

“We should be looking at on or before Easter,” our source said emphatically.

Asked if Osinbajo will actually run, considering the fact that the man said to have nominated him as vice presidential candidate to Buhari, APC national leader Tinubu, is also in the race and very formidable, our source spared no thought, responding, “Certainly, he is running”.

Our source revealed that aside the pre-convention crisis that rocked the APC, Osinbajo had been taken his time to quietly consult critical personalities within the Nigerian political space whose opinions are quite weighty and command a lot of respect.

He was also said to have been trying to avoid being seen as confrontational with Tinubu as his declaring immediately or shortly after the former Lagos State governor, whom he served as Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, may quickly take the wind off Tinubu’s sail.

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“The VP did not want that; he has great respect for Asiwaju. He has mostly been guided by his Christian values and he doesn’t want to come across as desperate in his ambition. After eight years as the vice president and working harmoniously with President Buhari, his capacity and capability is not in doubt,” our source declared.

Our source also pointed to the Monday meeting between Osinbajo and former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta, Ogun State, as part of the high-level consultation by the vice president towards 2023.

Osinbajo was in Abeokuta for a high-level dialogue organised by the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CODA), where he delivered the keynote speech, “West Africa: Rising to the Challenge of Consolidating Democratic Governance”. The two-day event is holding at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, between Monday and Tuesday.

In attendance at the opening day of the dialogue were former President Goodluck Jonathan, former Sierra Leone’s president, Ernest Bai Koroma and a host of other past and present African leaders.

Meanwhile, even without him yet to make his intention public, Osinbajo’s political groups have continued to sell the candidacy of the Vice President. The Osinbajo solidarity groups are not leaving any stone unturned as they continue to campaign for the emergence of the Vice President as a worthy successor to President Buhari.

They were all over the place at the APC national convention in Abuja, with their banners and other campaign materials, soliciting support for the Vice President.

The fact that neither Osinbajo nor his aides has distanced himself from the activities of the Osinbajo-for-president campaigners further reinforces the belief of many Nigerians that indeed the Vice President is in the race and it is only a matter of time before he declares.