Presidency 2023: Osinbajo has not made any declaration – Ojodu

There is increasing confusion over the presidential ambition of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo for the 2023 presidential election. This has been generating contrary views across the country.

Accordingly, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojodu, has refuted reports linking Vice President Osinbajo to the 2023 presidential election, saying that Prof. Osinbajo is currently pre-occupied with the duties of his office as the vice president. Ojodu, in a statement in Abuja, separated himself from trending reports linking him to a revelation that Vice President Osinbajo will be contesting for President in 2023.

Ojudu maintained that VP Osinbajo is currently “fully focused on working in his capacity as Vice President in the current administration, to address all the compelling issues in the country, and concerns of Nigerians, including, finding effective and lasting solutions to the security challenges, and working to further boost the economy.”

The SSA declared that Prof. Osinbajo has not made any declaration for the 2023 general elections.

He, however, admitted telling some friends in a private discussion in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, that the vice president is eminently qualified to contest for president, but is the only one to decide on that at the appropriate time.

Ojodu narrated: “What happened was that I was in Port-Harcourt, where I had a private meeting with some friends and interest groups.

“While at the meeting discussing politics, economy and several other subjects of public interest and well-being of our country, someone asked me if Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will run for President, come 2023.

“My answer to that inquiry was that he is eminently qualified to contest, and he will be the one to decide whether to do so or not, at an appropriate time.

“I concede that Nigerians are highly interested in knowing if Osinbajo will run. Everywhere I go, that is the question people ask me, and I have always tried to be careful in my response, whether to an individual, or group.

“While I appreciate and welcome the people’s love and admiration for Vice President Osinbajo, my counsel is, we should all allow him to decide, whether or not he is interested.”

Ojodu said that such a decision is not what an individual will pronounce in private conversations.

He stated: “it is certainly not a matter that will be pronounced at a private meeting, such as the one I participated in earlier this week in Port Harcourt.”

The issue of the 2023 presidential race involving the vice president has been spreading across the country; particularly, as it generates controversies over the perceived presidential ambition of the national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who is also yet to formally declare his ambition.