Bisi Akande: Buhari’s Reply When I Asked About Osinbajo’s Presidential Ambition

According to Chief Bisi Akande, the former interim national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), former President Muhammadu Buhari did not encourage former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to run against Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for the party’s 2023 presidential ticket.
Chief Akande claims that he questioned Buhari extensively, including if he supported Osinbajo’s choice to run for president of the APC, but the former president responded in the negative.
According to the former governor of Osun State, Buhari informed him that running for office against your master was not customary in his culture.

Buhari didn’t reject Tinubu’s candidacy, Akande revealed when questioned about it in an interview with Edmund Obilo.

He clarified, however, that despite efforts to prevent resentment among Yoruba candidates, Osinbajo did not resign for Tinubu.

“Among the many questions I posed to Buhari was whether he encouraged Osinbajo to run against Tinubu. He declined, explaining that in his culture, you don’t challenge your mentor for a job. Akande made this statement during the interview.

Speaking about Tinubu and Osinbajo’s connection, Akande disclosed that he was instrumental in Osinbajo’s selection as vice president.

In 2011, Tinubu and Buhari were debating who would take Bakare’s place. “I promised Tinubu that I would suggest Osinbajo, and I did,” Akande remarked.

Tinubu is a strategist in politics.
In the interview, Akande claimed that although Tinubu should have learned a lot about Nigerian politics now that he was president, he was more knowledgeable about Lagos and American politics at the time.

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He may have been well-versed in American and Lagos politics, but he knew virtually little about Nigerian politics. I’m not sure how much he’s learnt since becoming president,” he remarked.