Osinbajo Would Not Fight Tinubu For APC Presidential Ticket – VP Support Group

Vice President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo would not fight anyone, and certainly not Mr Bola Tinubu, in order to get the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

In an apparent reaction to THE WHISTLER story on Osinbajo which claimed the Vice President had stopped his ambition to run for president in 2023.

Osinbajo’s only recognised support group, Progressive Consolidation Group (PCG), stated this on Sunday in a statement sent to THE WHISTLER.

The APC had registered the PCG a month ago to advance the political interest of Mr Osinbajo.

The APC has also registered a partisan group advancing the political interest of Mr Tinubu, former Governor of Lagos State and APC National Leader, regarded as Osinbajo’s political godfather.

It was Tinubu who appointed Mr Osinbajo as Commissioner of Justice in Lagos and anointed him to be chosen as Buhari’s running mate in 2015.

Supporters of both politicians appear to be in a cold war over who gets the APC ticket to contest the 2023 presidential election.

Supporters of Mr Tinubu have accused Mr Osinbajo of disrespect and disloyalty for even contemplating such an ambition when his former boss is very much interested. The development has raised the political temperature in not only the South West but in the APC.

In trying to railroad Mr Osinbajo’s 2023 ambition on Sunday, the PCG, in a statement signed by the leader of the group, Mr Aliyu Kurfi, noted the Vice President is not only loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari but focused on his job.

The statement dismissed speculations that the Vice President attended a meeting and renounced his 2023 bid to succeed President Buhari.

It pointed out that Mr Osinbajo has not accepted citizens’ call to declare interest yet, and so could not have renounced his ambition to succeed Mr Buhari.

The PCG expressed total satisfaction with the increasing gale of support for Mr Osinbajo and stressed that as genuine progressives, PCG members will not be drawn into needless conflicts with others who wish to contest or back other candidates for the 2023 presidential elections.

“Osinbajo remains loyal to his boss, President Buhari,” the group declared adding that, “he is much focused on the job and he has never been known for desperate politicking.

“Specifically, it must be stated that an outrageous lie that the Vice President attended any meeting to renounce 2023 presidential ambition or bow to any politician for same, remains an absolute falsehood; how can he renounce what he is even yet to accept or declare?

“The reports about Mr Osinbajo having any meeting with any individual or group about a purported withdrawal from the 2023 presidential race” is false.

PCG noted that, “Every well-informed Nigerian knows that PCG is the very first 2023 support group to be formally recognised by our progressive party, APC and we have never sought to prevent or discourage others from following in our footsteps because Vice President Osinbajo will not subscribe to dirty political games that some typically desperate politicians play.

“While VP Osinbajo’s consistent loyalty to Mr. President, the APC and Nigeria continues to energize an increasing number of groups and individuals who genuinely believe in our party’s progressive cause, greedy and desperate political elements along with their manipulated perspectives must be kept at bay,” PCG noted.