Why Yemi Osinbajo contested for APC presidential ticket against Bola Tinubu - Laolu Akande

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo's spokesperson Laolu Akande has explained why he contested for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Osinbajo alongside other aspirants contested the party’s presidential primary although he lost to Bola Tinubu who is presently the President-elect.

Recall that while Tinubu was the Governor of Lagos state, Osinbajo was the Attorney-General of the state.

It has been said that Tinubu was the one who selected Osinbajo to run as President Muhammadu Buhari's vice president.

As a result of this, some APC members attributed his decision to contest the orimary as s betrayal.

On Friday, May 5, Akande said in an interview with Channels Television, that Osinbajo contested because he believed that he possesses the necessary experience and inspirational leadership qualities for the office of the president.

He said; “What is important is that you take the step you want to take in the best interest of the people. Public interest is the overriding factor."

“You couldn’t have been vice-president for eight years, and the kind of vice-president that he has been, and how much work that has been done.

“The level of understanding that you have acquired in terms of what has to be done and the capacity he has demonstrated when he had the opportunity to act for the president.

“And he has inspired tens and scores of millions of Nigerians with his leadership style. People see him as a representation of a new Nigeria. All of these can’t be in place and he just walks away.

“He did what he needed to do and the party made the decision and he just has to move on after doing the right thing.”

Osinbajo was reportedly absent from Tinubu's campaign trail of the APC presidential candidate.

Bola Tinubu was declared winner of the 2023 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission after he defeated Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).