As jostling for the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential ticket gets tougher, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has warned his supporters against insulting or abusing APC National Leader and former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Both men are eyeing the APC 2023 presidential ticket, which has elicited exchanges between their supporters. Some supporters of Tinubu had accused Osinbajo of being an ingrate for not supporting Tinubu’s presidential quest despite what Tinubu did for him politically.
However, sources close to the VP, said Osinbajo is against any one abusing Tinubu and has therefore warned his supporters: “Even if his supporters abuse my mother, don’t retaliate. On no account must he be insulted or denigrated.”
Also, sources have revealed that a major plank of Osinbajo’s support base is the northern emirs, who consider Osinbajo to have demonstrated uncommon loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari.
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Apart from the emirs, four Northern Governors, two from the North-West and two from the North-Central, are also said to be rooting for the Vice President. But Tinubu is said to be more popular in the north.
Osinbajo served as Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General in Tinubu’s eight years administration as Lagos governor.
The duo also met on October 29 last year when the Vice President visited the APC leader in his Asokoro residence to empathize with him on his return from the United Kingdom after undergoing knee surgery.
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Highly-placed sources said Asiwaju had used the occasion of the Vice President’s visit last October to intimate him of his ambition.
While it is not clear what Osinbajo’s response was, sources in the know have severally quoted the VP as saying he would not contest against Tinubu, his former boss, adding that Asiwaju remains his benefactor.
But other sources, however, noted that Osinbajo has always insisted that the APC leader has never told him he wanted to contest the 2023 election. This is in reference to the rumoured presidential ambition of the VP.