Former presidential aide Laolu Akande has dismissed claims by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, that former President Muhammadu Buhari considered Yemi Osinbajo’s presidential ambition “highly immoral and distasteful.”
In a statement issued on Saturday, Akande, who served as spokesperson to former Vice-President Osinbajo from 2015 to 2023, said Buhari had personally expressed his willingness to support Osinbajo’s presidential ambition on at least four occasions.
Lawal had argued in a recent interview that Buhari would have found it difficult to support Osinbajo’s ambition because of the former vice-president’s longstanding political relationship with President Bola Tinubu.
Reacting to the claim, Akande said he decided to respond after watching the interview because he was present during discussions and decisions concerning Osinbajo’s office.
According to him, Buhari repeatedly expressed his willingness to support the former vice-president, asking him, “If I don’t support you, who will I support?”
Akande also recalled an incident during the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primaries in 2022, when Buhari publicly praised Osinbajo’s campaign approach at a Federal Executive Council meeting.
“During the APC presidential primaries in 2022, while campaigns were underway, President Buhari openly commended Vice President Osinbajo at a Federal Executive Council meeting for the dignified, issues-based manner in which he was conducting his campaign across the country. He spoke in a laudatory tone. The entire Council witnessed it,” Akande said.
He maintained that Buhari’s public remarks and private assurances contradicted Lawal’s account of the former president’s position on Osinbajo’s ambition.
“That is not a President who found Osinbajo’s ambition distasteful. That is a President who broached it, encouraged and applauded it,” Akande added.
Osinbajo contested the APC presidential primary in June 2022 but finished third with 235 votes. Tinubu won the contest with 1,271 votes, while former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi came second with 316 votes.
Tinubu subsequently emerged as the APC’s presidential candidate and went on to win Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election.
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