Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will be running for presidency come 2023. He is also going to be one of those who will be facing Asiwaju Bola Tinubu at the March 26th, 2022 primaries of the APC. And this is authoritative. City People has confirmed that over the last 2 months, he has been under intense pressure to run for Presidency. About 2 weeks ago, a decision was taken by his group to go below the radar to shift attention away from him. So, all he has been doing since then was to work underground.
The plan is to continue to intensify efforts at galvanising more support for his ambition.
City People has also gathered that he is not only going to contest the election he has the approval of his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari, who has already told him to go ahead and contest. But some doubt if he is, indeed, Buhari’s choice. Many still believe that Buhari has a card he is still keeping close to his chest.
That is why some political analysts strongly feel that Osinbajo is being used by the APC’s Cabal to scuttle Tinubu’s ambition.
They feel that one of the strategies to be used to stop Tinubu is to get the VP to join the race and further divide the APC. So, it will not be a straight fight between Tinubu and Osinbajo. City People has confirmed that contrary to the view that Osinbajo has changed his mind, he is still very much in the race. And right now his strategy is to further widen his spread across the 36 states of the federation.
So, as he moves around Nigeria to attend to state duties, he usually takes time off to meet with stakeholders across Nigeria. City People can authoritatively reveal that with the increasing number of groups expressing support for the Vice President and urging him to join the 2023 presidential race, there are strong indications that he will declare his interest in the coming days.
All his aides and associates have told City People that Osinbajo clearly comes across as someone who wants to run for president, but appears to be keeping his cards close to his chest for now, and waiting for the right time to declare. Everyone close to Osinbajo says his body language suggests much.
The only major issue he has is the moral burden of joining the presidential race, knowing fully well that his political godfather, Tinubu, also running.
Many of his political associates, who spoke with City People in confidence believe that Osinbajo’s decision to run should not be seen in that light. They believe that Tinubu himself knows that Osinbajo is capable and able to run Nigeria. It was this quality that Tinubu saw in him that made him make Osinbajo his Attorney General & Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State in 1999 and also made Tinubu suggest that Osinbajo be made Vice President in 2015. If he wasn’t good and trustworthy. Tinubu would not have confidence in him.
They are also of the opinion that the age-long relationship between Tinubu and Osinbajo has remained strong.
There are some of his aides who have also gone spiritual on the issue by saying since APC has zoned the Presidency to the South, the candidate should come from Ogun State. And if it comes to Ogun State it is Osinbajo who could best realise it. They have gone ahead to argue that if you check out the list of all the Yoruba or South-West people who have ruled Nigeria, they have all come from Ogun State.
That is why some of the Ogun APC leaders in the Remo zone recently organised a rally in his honour asking Osinbajo to go ahead and run.
The town of Sagamu-Remo in Ogun State came alive last Wednesday, 23rd February 2022, as many top Ogun APC leaders took to the streets of Sagamu, on a long walk, to campaign for Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo to join the 2023 Presidential race.
These top APC leaders were drawn from Remo North, Ikenne, Sagamu Ijebu-Ode, Ijebu Isiwo, Ijebu Waterside, and other neighbouring towns. And they mobilised members of their various wards (about 35 wards) to come out to campaign for VP Osinbajo, who they have nicknamed PYO.
The Ogun APC Chieftains who led the All Remo Support Osinbajo Rally included Hon. John Obafemi, Otunba Fatai Sowemimo, Asoju Tayo Adesanya, Mr. Erinfolami Onajole, Mr. Deji Solaja, Otunba Korede Olusanya, Aare Jimi Olatunji, Alhaji Lamidi Odulawa, Ar. Abiodun Adesanya, Mrs. Josephine Makanjuola, Evang. Kolade Segun-Okeowo, and Hon. Kunle Adesanya among other leaders. They all came out en masse that Wednesday to lead and coordinate the pro-Osinbajo rally.
As early as 7.30am that day, party members all dressed up in deep blue PYO tee-shirts and face caps, on jeans, gathered at the Remo Secondary School (RSS) roundabout leading to Ikenne, to mobilise hundreds of supporters who had been invited to be part of the rally.
As the leaders posted the PYO posters on the walls of where they were, and got everyone ready, via phone calls, for the long walk around Sagamu town, okada riders began to assemble at the roundabout, all facing Sagamu township.
By 8am, many okada riders, various Women Support Groups, artisans, all gathered to commence the walk, on the major streets of Sagamu, singing and dancing, with a live band leading the convoy of cars and commercial buses.
Adequate security was provided by the Police, Trace and other security agencies.
As the party leaders and members trekked into Sagamu township, carrying the various Osinbajo for 2023 Presidency banners, the band led by Queen Esther Iwalewa, began to tell everyone who cared to listen that they should all rally around the son-of-the-soil, in 2023.
The band played all sorts of danceable Fuji, Juju and Hip-Hop tunes while promoting PYO’s ambition and asking Remo people to vote for PYO in 2023.
As the campaigners, made up of 60% women, moved around the major streets of Sagamu, they distributed leaflets and interacted with the market women, who had their goods already displayed, for the day, Taxi-Cabs drivers, and Shop owners, on the need to vote for Osinbajo. They stopped at the various markets, bus stops, motor parks, educating everyone on the need to vote wisely, by voting for Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. They also stopped at the royal father, Ewusi’s palace, to tell him about their PYO campaign. He gave them his blessings and the campaigners continued their journey.
The trek which went on till about 4pm ended up at the palace of the Akarigbo, where a rally was held at the open square, within the palace. At the rally, the leaders addressed the crowd that had gathered to listen to the message of the leaders of the party.
One after the other, the Ogun APC party leaders spoke about the many virtues of PYO and why he was eminently qualified to be the next President of Nigeria. They reminded party members that Osinbajo was from Ikenne, Remo and it is their responsibility as Remo people, to rally around him to win. Amid singing and dancing, the rally achieved its aim, as many more people joined to listen to them.
After the speeches by the leaders, they proceeded to the palace to meet with the Akarigbo and the paramount ruler of Remoland, Oba Babatunde Adewale Ajayi. They wanted to tell him their mission. They met the Akarigbo, in the company of 2 other colourful Remo Obas, the Elepe and Radanuwa of Idado, who listened to the party leaders.
One after the other, the party leaders told the Akarigbo the reason for their campaign: to ask the Akarigbo to help tell his son, Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, to immediately join the presidential race, without hesitation. They explained that they took up this role to show support for Osinbajo. “Osinbajo didn’t send us to go round. We decided to do this on our own. We the Remo people are behind him. We can’t sit down and watch people from other parts of the country campaigning for the VP to be the next President and we would now sit down idle. We don’t want it to look as if we are not supporting him. We are in fact begging him to come out and run. We want the Akarigbo to please help beg him to run. “We are here to come and plead with the Akarigbo to ask Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to run. He is capable. He has the attributes”.
“Other zones across the country have been calling and clamouring for him to run. We also want him. All the 35 wards in Remo came out today massively to campaign for him. And we have been on the road since 7:30am”.
About 3 of the leaders spoke about the need to rally around PYO, who they say is brilliant, focused and has all the leadership traits that the country needs at a time like this.
After all the speeches, one of the leaders of the group, Hon. John Obafemi, formally presented the Akarigbo with a letter of request, asking Osinbajo to come out and run. They wanted the Akarigbo to help pass it on to him.
After that, John Obafemi asked all the members of the delegation seated before the Akarigbo to all stand-up and prostrate, while the women knelt down begging the Akarigbo to help tell Prof. Osinbajo to run.
The Akarigbo who is the head of the Ogun State Council of Obas, personally collected the letter, read it and promised to deliver it to Osinbajo in the next few days.
He also extolled the virtues of Osinbajo. He said Osinbajo was a brilliant man, who knew what he was doing.
He also spoke about how ultimately it would be Osinbajo who would have to take that decision himself.
The Akarigbo said there was no doubt that Prof. was one of the best minds we had in the country. “If he decides to run and his party gives him the ticket, it will be a good development. He will be one of the best brains in Nigeria”.
Kabiyeesi counselled the campaigners that those campaigning for Osinbajo should do it carefully and tactically, so as not to raise tension. He said they had to be humble about it and that they have to persuade others to see reason with them. “The 1st thing to do is to push for a candidate of Yoruba extraction. We have to be wise. We have to be meticulous about it and take a decision to carry along all parts of this country”.
He said Osinbajo is a talented human being.
“I will deliver your letter and convey that message that you want him to run. I am very optimistic that he will take the right decision that will be good for Remo, for Nigeria and for himself. What we all want is the betterment of the country”. He said he wasn’t only speaking for himself, but was also speaking for all the members of the Remo Traditional Council.
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