A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze has lampooned Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo for joining the the the 2023 presidential race.
The VP’s expression of interest in the seat of power, according to Eze, is a show of betrayal to the person of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
TrackNews reports that APC National leader, Tinubu could be termed as a political godfather to Osinbajo.
The former Governor of Lagos State is believed to have in 2014 nominated Osinbajo to be the running mate of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Before the nomination, Osinbajo had served eight years as Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos when Tinubu was the governor between 1999 and 2007.
Osinbajo had in several interviews earlier, denied having an interest in succeeding his principal in 2023.
The Vice President, however, ended speculations last Monday when he announced he will be running for the office of the president in the forthcoming elections.
Reacting in a statement he signed and made available to newsmen on Sunday, Eze said the declaration of Osinbajo “is a clear tale of treachery perpetrated against Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a former Lagos State Governor, a man whose political career is built upon demanding unctuous loyalty from his allies and who now feels wounded over the shabby betrayal of a Senior Advocate, who rode to power through his large wings of political magnanimity.”
Eze who claimed to have read through the VP’s speech in writing, said his reasons for joining the race are flimsy and watery.
He said he found it a reasonable obligation to let the world know that such declaration smacks of a very perceptible tincture of political infidelity against his all-time benefactor, Tinubu, who has nurtured a lifelong aspiration for the presidency.
“The same zone has existed for twelve years since the fourth Republic occupied the Speakership of this country for over eight years through Hon. Patricia Etteh and Hon Dimeji Bankole from 2007 to 2011 with the incumbent Speaker Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila will spend four years by 2023,” Eze’s statement read in part.
He added: “With this development because South East region has not since the inception of the 4th Republic occupied the seat of the President or Vice President of this country and considering that the South-South region has only through Dr Jonathan Goodluck occupied the exalted office for only five years, it will be immoral and unacceptable that Osinbajo or any other aspirant from the South West would be contemplating of getting the party’s flag for the Presidency against the southeast and south-south regions of this country in 2023.”
Eze also reminded Osinbajo that he would have occupied the post of Vice President from the same South West for eight years come 2023.
According to him, for these reasons and many others Osinbajo should withdraw his interest as a matter of urgency and save Nigeria the embarrassment his unlikely emergence would cause the country.
