Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has reportedly expressed his interest to run for president in 2023 to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Report had it that the VP informed the president of his desire to succeed him at the expiration of his tenure in 2023 in a bid to consolidate the achievements being recorded by their administration.
With this, the vice-president is expected to slug it out for the ruling All Progressives Congress’s ticket with the likes of the APC leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who a few months ago, informed President Buhari of his intention to succeed him; and Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State.
A source was quoted as saying that “Certainly, VP Osinbajo has told the president that he wants to succeed him.
“The vice-president had first consulted some prominent Nigerians who encouraged him to vie for the presidency and they also encouraged him to tell the president himself.
“They told him not to allow a third party to tell the president so that the ambition will not be misconstrued.”
According to the source, when Osinbajo approached the president with the story, Buhari was not surprised.
He said that “Buhari smiled in his usual characteristic manner…he listened to the VP carefully and while responding, he gave him the green light and wished him well without giving him any commitment or assurance of supporting him ahead of other contenders.
“He blessed the intention just the way he blessed Tinubu when he visited him in the Villa and unveiled his plan to vie for the presidency.
“And, I think the president is being careful. Remember what he said while granting an interview to a national television.”
Another source was quoted as saying that recent happenings indicated that Osinbajo will “Definitely slug it out with Tinubu and others for the APC ticket.
“The projection in certain quarters that the VP will not contest against Tinubu is now over. The two of them who are from the South-West would confront each other. They both have their support bases but Tinubu, of course, is more of a politician than Osinbajo.”
