A founding member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bisi Akande, has disclosed that late former President Muhammadu Buhari informed him that he never instigated ex-Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to contest against now President Bola Tinubu in 2022.
During the APC primary election in 2022, Tinubu emerged as the party’s flagbearer while Osinbajo came a distant third.
Osinbajo is widely believed to be a political protege of Tinubu after he served under him as Commissioner of Justice and Attorney General while the now President was governor of Lagos State.
There are speculations that Tinubu was instrumental in Osinbajo’s emergence as Vice President to Buhari.
However, Akande while featuring on Edmund Obilo’s podcast, State Affairs, said Osinbajo never stepped down for Tinubu because it was his right to contest in the primary election.
Akande said: “I wanted everybody to be free to contest the election but I don’t want bitterness, I wanted them to talk on issues and not one to destroy another because I wanted one of them to emerge in the end, I wanted a Yoruba President.”
On convincing Osinbajo to step down for Tinubu, he said, “After several meetings, I told them we want only one and I want any of you to voluntarily step down.
“On the evening of the primary, some came to me that they were going to step down and they stepped down, it wasn’t too late.
“Osinbajo did not step down and I didn’t discuss it with Tinubu thereafter. Osinbajo has every right to contest and he did and I don’t blame anybody for contesting elections.”
On if Buhari was against Tinubu, Akande said: “He (Buhari) didn’t tell me so because I put many questions to him, he wanted me to see that he was not the one who instigated Osinbajo to contest against Tinubu and he made it clear that in his own culture when your mentor is interested in one position, you don’t contest with him but when Osinbajo came he was surprised and only wished him well.”
Akande’s claim is contrary to claims in Buhari’s biography, ‘From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammad Buhari’, authored by Dr Charles Omole, that the late former president didn’t support Osinbajo’s presidential ambition.
The book quoted Buhari as saying he never supported Osinbajo’s ambition in 2022 because he never knew him.
Buhari was said to have stated that he knew the ex-Vice President through Tinubu.
