Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has spoken on the circumstances surrounding his nomination as President Buhari’s running mate in the 2015 presidential election
– The author of Buhari’s biography, Paden claims the president chose Osinbajo as his running mate despite the objection by Bola Tinubu
– Paden said Buhari chose Osinbajo above others despite enormous pressure
Photo credit: Sumila Ejiga BJA/NAN
Osinbajo, speaking at a dinner organised for former Niger Delta agitators at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Wednesday, October 19, said he was he was nominated by “somebody somewhere”.
The vice president however refrained from disclosing the identity of who nominated him, the Punch reports.
He said: “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.
“ I think that all of you that are here today are the beneficiaries of the opportunities that you have somehow received. And this is why this event is so important. I think that it is one way we have to remind ourselves that we are bound as individuals to give opportunities to everyone.”
Recall that controversy broke out recently when the author of Buhari’s biography, “Muhammadu Buhari: The Challenges of Leadership in Nigeria”, Prof. John Paden, claimed in the book that the president chose Osinbajo as his running mate despite the alleged opposition of a national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Paden’s narrative contradicted the general belief that Tinubu was instrumental to the emergence of Osinbajo who served as his attorney-general when he (Tinubu) was the governor of Lagos state.
The author claimed that the names of Tinubu; the then Lagos state governor, Babatunde Fashola; and Osinbajo were forwarded to Buhari for him to pick a running mate shortly after he emerged the party’s candidate at its convention in Lagos.
According to Paden, Buhari chose Osinbajo above others despite enormous pressure from Tinubu to do otherwise.
Meanwhile, Timi Frank, the deputy national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has claimed that John Oyegun, the national chairman of the party, is being controlled by some forces.
Speaking on Wednesday, October 19, Frank said the APC was not in the position to support the anti-corruption crusade of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
