Tinubu Digs At Osinbajo As Bagudu Explains Governors Meeting In Abuja

The political association between Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Mr Bola Tinubu, may have suffered a setback after the former declared his intention to run for president on Monday.

Tinubu, who met 12 governors of the party less than 24 hours after Osinbajo had also met 10 of the governors to inform them of his ambition to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari, spoke after the meeting.

A reporter had asked him to react to the declaration to run for president by “your son,” to which Tinubu replied: “I don’t have a son grown enough to run for president.”

Osinbajo finally declared on Monday morning , after defending his loyalty to Buhari and his own capacity to offer leadership to the country .

Those who attended the meeting called by Tinubu were governors from Kebbi , Yobe, Lagos, Nasarawa, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kwara, Imo, Plateau, Osun, Ogun and Kano.

Those absent at the meeting include APC Governors from, Zamfara, Katsina, Kogi, Ebonyi, Cross River, Niger, Borno and Gombe states.

The emergency meeting called by Tinubu is seen as meant to counter that of Osinbajo, signaling that the battle line may have been drawn between the two former associates.

After the meeting which held at the Kebbi State Governors Lodge in Abuja, Tinubu told journalists that, “My mission is to seek collaboration, support and encouragement of my party, the APC, for my ambition to become the president of the federal republic of Nigeria.

Speaking for the 12 governors, the Kebbi Governor, Mr Atiku Bagudu said, “Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, this morning, met members of the Progressive Governors Forum where he stated what he has made public already – his intention to seek for the office of the President come 2023 which he has already announced publicly. He briefed us on his reasons, his thinking and his message.

“All the governors in attendance graciously came to listen to him. He acknowledged the role of the Governors in the last convention of our party, where, according to him, the governors of the party steadied the party by helping in the evolution of the leadership that is accepted and widely acknowledged as that which we wish for our party. We appreciated him; his message and we will definitely discuss the message at one of our forum meetings,” he said.

Asked if the declaration by Osinbajo has put the APC governors in a tight corner, Bagudu said, “No, no, no. In fact, in the contrary, we appreciate our party because it has become a party that has endeared itself to Nigerians. We have many brilliant people in our party, some serving and some not serving. The fact that we have people in our party that express desire to lead the party into the highest office in electoral contest shows how much this our party has resonated with Nigerians and our party members.

“For us, it is a hallmark of success that people are showing interest, but at the end of the day and because they are leaders of the party, they will always put the party’s interest at heart.

On the fear that the party might adopt a consensus candidate during the primary election, he said, “We always encourage our party to go for the best. Don’t forget that in the 2015 presidential election primary, President Buhari contested against several others and it was a beautiful contest. There is nothing wrong. Members of the party always want to see consensus if it is possible but we are a democratic party.

“In our last convention, we had consensus in some of the offices and election in some others. There is always misrepresentation of consensus as if people are being snowballed into positions they would rather not take.

“APC has done well as a party, President Buhari has led the party ably well and we believe strongly that come 2023, Nigerians will see another President of the APC extraction.”