Strong indications emerged, today, that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will, within the next 48 hours, publicly declare his intention to contention to contest the 2023 presidential election.
The Ekiti State Director General of the Osinbajo Grassroots Organisation (OGO), Honourable Femi Adeleye, said this in response to a question to that effect at a press conference held by the organisation in Ibadan, Oyo State.
This was as a group, League of Legal Practitioners For Osinbajo, has threatened to petition and sue Osinbajo, if he fails or refuses to contest in 2023.
Adeleye said the silence of the vice president on his much-speculated presidential ambition was not borne out fear or intimidation, but was in deference to his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari.
Honourable Adeleye, a former member of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, emphatically declared that Professor Osinbajo will make his intention public within the next 48 hours.
“That the vice president has not spoken or declared his presidential ambition is not because of any fear or intimidation. The delay in making public his presidential ambition is not because of fear.
“We all know that he has a boss who he looks up to. However, I can assure you that Vice President Osinbajo will soon declare his intention to run for the presidency in 2023.
“I can also assure you that the public declaration will come within the next few days. I can tell you that the vice president will declare publicly his intention to contest the election, maximus, within the next 48 hours,” he said.
The coordinator of the group of lawyers, Mr Abioye Akerele, while speaking at the press conference, a team of legal practitioners are planning to write a petition and sue Osinbajo, if he refuses to contest the 2023 elections.
He said legal practitioners are pleading with Nigerians to allow a lawyer to rule the country for the first time because, according to him, Osinbajo is the man Nigeria needed at this critical moment.
“PYO, as we used to call him, is a symbol of every good thing you can think of. He is the best Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice ever in Lagos State since its creation in 1967.
“If he refuses to contest, we plan to write a petition against him; we are ready to sue him. Nigerians are asking him to govern us because it has become circumstantial for him to govern us,” Akerele said.
Various speakers at the press conference, including South-West Director Generals of OGO, also declared that the vice president is the most competent and most qualified to take over from President Buhari in 2023.
Soga Owoeye and Samson Oyerinde, Director Generals of OGO (Lagos and Ogun states, respectively) and coordinator of Nigeria Asks For Osinbajo, Prince Solagbade Amodeni, also said Nigeria, at this point, needs the leadership, strength and resources of Osinbajo to move forward.
A former federal lawmaker, Honourable Kayode Oladele, listed the enemies of the country to include ignorance, corruption, disease and illiteracy and declared that the only person that can fight the enemies is Osinbajo.
National General Secretary of the Nigerian-American Group for Democratic Support, Mrs Tolani Adekoya, said told Newscoven.ng that the only person that can take the country out of its problems is Vice President Osinbajo.
“Professor Osinbajo, by the grace of God, will run. He has what it takes to tackle the problems facing the country. His credentials are well known to all Nigerians.
“He is a leader that is forthright, forward-looking and is ready to move the country forward. This is an opportunity we have to rescue the country. We should not miss it,” she said.
