The Osinbajo Grassroots Organisation, a group set up to drum support for Vice President (VP), Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has asked the Vice President to contest in the forthcoming 2023 presidential election.
The group, which is already engaging critical stakeholders in the South-West region of Nigeria to garner their support, stressed that VP Osinbajo possesses the right temperament and needed experience to deliver on the job.
During a news conference in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, themed: “Osinbajo: Southwest is Ready,” the group maintains that the VP has shown uncommon competence, character, courage, credibility, and compassion in discharging his responsibilities and duties.
SOUTHWEST COORDINATOR CONFIRMS THE REASON FOR SUPPORTING VP OSINBAJO
In his address at the event, the Southwest Coordinator of the group, Suleiman Maito, said the organisation had traversed the country’s length and breadth to sample the populace’s opinions on VP Osinbajo.
Reports proved positive as many identified the VP as the acceptable candidate across ethnic and religious divides. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, they said citizens have on their hands a Nigerian that sits well with all ethnic and religious groups.
Maito noted: “On behalf of the people of Southwest Nigeria, we want to thank all Nigerians from the North and South, Muslims, Christians, and Animists who have embraced Prof Yemi Osinbajo as the symbol of the new tribe representation for a new Nigeria that we all yearn for; beautiful in her diversity.
“Meeting and talking to men, women, old, young, educated and uneducated, farmers, artisans and professionals, we are more than convinced that Professor Olufemi Oluleke Osinbajo is the most acceptable Nigerian to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023,” he asserted.
Maito stated that Osinbajo had governed Nigeria as an acting president for months, during which he demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities.
He affirmed that Nigerians need VP Osinbajo to contest for the presidency in 2023 to continue the trajectory of the President Buhari administration in economic diversification, infrastructure development, anti-corruption, and the unmatched investment in issues of security that has characterised the administration since 2015.
LEAGUE OF LAWYERS’ COORDINATOR SPEAKS FOR THE GROUP
Similarly, the coordinator of the league of lawyers for VP Yemi Osinbajo, Barr Abioye Akerele, noted that Osinbajo is a brilliant mind and a symbol of every good thing one can think of. He added that he would petition Prof. Osinbajo if he refused to declare his intention to run for president.
Akerele said: “If the man refuses, we will sue and petition him and I’m being honest with it. It takes someone like Professor Yemi Osinbajo who understands the workings of the law to unbundle the Nigerian constitution for the benefit of Nigerians.”
In their respective submissions, coordinators of the group in the Southwest states of Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Lagos, and Ekiti advised Nigerians not to be quick to vote for any candidate put up by political parties.
But vote in a candidate who has the needed pedigree to deliver good governance to the masses.
E/Suzan O.