Buhari didn’t want Tinubu or Osinbajo as successor — Ex-presidential aide
Mr. Babafemi Ojudu, a former Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, has said that ex-President Muhammadu Buhari did not endorse the presidential aspirations of his former Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, or his political ally, President Bola Tinubu.
He disclosed this when he appeared on Edmund Obilo’s State Affairs podcast on Monday.
Ojudu, who served in the office of former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, revealed that his former principal could have performed better than the current President, Bola Tinubu.
He said, “I knew Osinbajo was going to lose the primary, I saw it coming.
“Because of the system we operated and still operating, I kept saying at our meeting that all of the efforts we are making like traveling around, convincing people, and addressing delegates is only 40 percent.
“60 percent of it lies in Buhari’s hands unless and until Buhari mobilizes people around him, the governors, his aides, we are going nowhere.
“I used to refer to Buhari as a one-man majority and he never mobilized his team towards Osinbajo and I think Tinubu outsmarted him in so many different ways.”
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While speaking further, he likened the failure to elect Professor Yemi Osinbajo during the last presidential election to missing a second chance at the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
“I supported Osinbajo to be president. I was convinced because having seen him up close,” Ojudu said.
“The way he worked, his philosophy, his breadth of knowledge and the kind of patriotic verve in him I just think that he was the best person at that time to govern Nigeria that I have seen up close to be on the part of danger.
“Osinbajo would have been good for this country. For me, it is like losing Awolowo for a second time because he was at Awolowo’s level in terms of capacity, ability, dedication and commitment.”
However, during the APC primary in the buildup to the 2023 elections, President Bola Tinubu secured 1,271 votes to clinch the party’s presidential ticket, while former Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi garnered 316 votes.
Former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo received 235 votes, finishing third, while Senate President Ahmed Lawan obtained 152 votes.
