Former Governor Segun Osoba of Ogun State, yesterday, stated that All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Bola Tinubu, had constitutional rights to vie for president in 2023.
He noted that Tinubu, as an individual, could put himself forward since the party had not awarded the ticket to anyone.
Osoba, who was speaking on a live programme, submitted that concentration on any individual now would jeopardise party’s efforts, “but Tinubu has a right to pursue his own agenda.”
He stressed the need for South West to unite “if it must achieve success in the 2023 presidential election.”
The chairman of the APC Constitutional Drafting Committee in 2013 corroborated Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, that there is a gentleman’s agreement in the party allowing the South to produce Nigeria’s next leader when President Muhammadu Buhari completes his second term in the next two years.
Acknowledging that there has been “so much noise from the (South) East”, Osoba stated that nobody had contacted him or any party chieftain regarding running for the office in 2023.
“As an elder in the party, nobody from the South East has contacted or lobbied me to say they are interested,” he added.
Meanwhile, General Secretary, Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), Dr. Kunle Olajide, has cautioned Tinubu, who is yet to officially declare, to moderate his ambition by allowing the ethnic group to consult widely on whom to present.
While admitting in a telephone chat yesterday that the Lagos State ex-governor had paid his dues and was constitutionally qualified for the presidency, Olajide submitted: “But my advice is for him to place the interest of the country and especially that of Yoruba race before his personal ambition.”
He appealed to the politician and his supporters to “start looking out for younger elements like the incumbent Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and others which the region can present due to the fact that age is still on their side.”