Now that Professor Yemi Osinbajo the incumbent Vice President of Nigeria has finally declared his ambition to run for the 2023 presidential elections, it is obvious the that the real battle has just begun.
Osinbajo by his declaration, makes him the seventh after Rotimi Amaechi to declare for the post of President come 2023 under the banner of All Progressives Compress APC.
Those who had earlier declare apart from Tinubu are;
Senator Rochas Okorocha
Gov. Yahaya Bello
Gov. David Umahi
Gov. Kayode Fayemi
Of all these one person who is not realistic is Governor Yahaya Bello because he should realise that he is not a Southerner as the position has been zoned to the South.
Speculations that the battle may end up between him and his benefactor boss Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the Southwest has now come into reality.
No doubt about it, Yemi Osinbajo, has the constitutional right to contest and nobody can take this away from him but the question is when will the Yorubas come into term to speak with one voice and agree on one candidate to be rallied round?
Do we call this move by Osinbajo a mark of betrayal?
1963 Awolowo was the most prominent Yoruba politician whom the ethnic believe so much in but Samuel Ladoke Akintola a fellow yoruba like him from the then Western Region and one of his proteges was used to scuttle his ambition.
In 1978 when Awolọwọ came out to contest as the President of this country the likes of Richard Akinjide and Akinloyè were the brain behind his failure to achieve this ambition.
In 1993, Moshood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola a Yoruba man was well accepted by all and sundries across the length and breadth of Nigeria as he was well voted for but a Yoruba man from his own clan Olusegun Obasanjo never saw him as the Messiah Nigeria needs.
Abiola died in incarceration without ruling Nigeria not minding the fact that he won the election with landsliding margin.
Thirty years down the line, history is about to repeat itself again, will the Yorubas change and think as one.
Will Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Yemi Osinbajo be a repeat of history?
Between Tinubu and Osinbajo who should show the understanding needed for the Yoruba race to achieve their objectives?
No doubt about it one is a Master.
If not for Tinubu, may be nobody might have heard of any Osinbajo talk less of him becoming a Vice President.
Osinbajo first trail into politics was because he was identified as a material and was made the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice under the leadership of Tinubu as Governor between 1999 and 2007.
Since he left office, who heard of him again until he was favoured and be tipped as Buhari’s running mate in 2014 which led to his becoming the Nation’s Vice President in 2015.
What was Osinbajo input in the building up of the party APC the platform upon which he now believes he can use to contest?
In 2019, can he tell us how many booths he won in his ward? Here is a man who could not win his own booth.
It is no gainsaying that Osinbajo could be termed as another betrayer amongst the Yorubas who wants history to repeat itself.
If Osinbajo has conscience as a truly born Yoruba man, he should not have raised any thought of challenging his benefactor through whom he came into limelight except there is an agenda not made opened to many of us.
If there is no other agenda other than a Tinubu plan B then Osinbajo is a betrayer.
What was his political record other than he has been a VP for seven years in a government that has almost brought Nigeria into a status of failed state in all areas of life?
In his speech, he never mentioned anything to reflect that he had once got a boss and this goes to show that he really means business.
He promised to uphold the legacy of his present principal. He will complete what Buhari began. What legacy does his principal has on ground other than insecurity and hunger in the land?
Definitely we are in for long suffering if this is what he has in mind.
Under his watch as the Head of Buhari’s economic team, what indices are on ground to show that Nigeria’s economy had improved?
If Tinubu and Osinbajo were to be left to contest on a free level playing ground, can he defeat Tinubu?
What political structure does he have to match up with Tinubu, a Don in the political atmosphere ?
Obviously his decision to declare may be based on assurances by his boss and his cabal to favour him through consensus arrangements but this may be a catastrophe for the party if he is to face the likes of Atiku as PDP flag bearer.
The party this time needs a man who can win votes not a man who can speak grammar.
It is time the Yorubas come together and speak with one voice in order not to allow history to repeat itself again.
