A National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and one of the principal actors that led the campaign to wrest power from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 elections, Chief Bola Tinubu, has revealed that when he called Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to inform him that he had been chosen to be President Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate to contest the 2015 presidential election, he (Osinbajo) was a bit hesitant. It gathered that Tinubu, who made the disclosure in the book, ‘Against the Run of Play – How an incumbent president was defeated in Nigeria,’ written by the Chairman of the THISDAY Editorial Board, Mr Olusegun Adeniyi, said Osinbajo was hesitant and asked him (Tinubu) to go and intimate the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye He said: “He was a bit hesitant as he asked me to go and tell Pastor Adeboye. I replied by telling him that he needed to inform Pastor Adeboye himself, after all, there had been times when if we needed to see Pastor Adeboye, he was the one who facilitated it. “I reminded him that since the final choice was not for me to make, I should not go to Pastor Adeboye until after the announcement of his name. “So, Osinbajo went to meet Pastor Adeboye who reportedly told him, ‘if they offer you, take it’,” Tinubu said in the book which will be launched in Lagos tomorrow. The book, which also delved into the circumstances that led to Tinubu being sidelined as Buhari’s running mate in the election, despite the prior agreement both men had reached when the APC was being formed that they would contest on a joint ticket, revealed that Senate President Bukola Saraki, other APC governors and senators led the charge to stop the pairing before the party’s presidential primary in Lagos. “Buhari persisted and asked Tinubu to nominate three persons. The South-west leader sent only one name: that of his former Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo,” Adeniyi wrote in his book. Tinubu offered more insight on this: “After the primary, there were series of meetings with leaders like Chief Harry Akande insisting that I should be the VP choice.
Others, for their own personal reasons, were saying I should not be the person, claiming a Muslim-Muslim ticket would not be accepted at a certain point.” When it became clear that the opposition to him as running mate was too strong, Tinubu ruled himself out by releasing a public statement; but when Buhari asked for three names, he insisted on submitting only one. “I told him that I would give him only one name that would not be mine, although I personally believed a Muslim-Muslim ticket could ensure victory. “I backed away from the position in order to offer Buhari a name I once raised with him in 2011: that of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo,” the former Lagos governor emphasised. Tinubu then went on to recall Osinbajo’s reaction when he called him to inform him that he (Tinubu) had given Buhari his name as his running mate.
However, that was just the beginning of the drama, the book continued, because there was no certainty about whether or not Buhari would make the choice. Tinubu faulted hardliner members of the CPC who “seemed to be advancing the names of Pastor Bakare and Mr Rotimi Akeredolu. I could understand but how Akeredolu became a nominee from their side was shocking to me. “I was later to find out that his connection to certain CPC figures predated his overture to me to become the ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria) candidate in the Ondo State governorship election in 2012”.
He said: “Once bitten, twice shy, they say. That explains why I did not attend the press conference. I did not want to be taken by surprise a second time in case another name other than the one I submitted was announced.” In the end, Osinbajo’s name was announced by Buhari as the presidential running mate.