A US-based legal consultant, Akintunde Festus Adeyemo, on Friday said even if Prof Yemi Osinabjo wins the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election, “he can’t become the next president without a pact with Bola Tinubu”.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that with about 13 months left till the end of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, several prominent politicians have expressed the desire to become Nigeria’s next president. Vice-President Osinbajo and National Leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu, are among the 2023 presidential hopefuls.
According to Adeyemo, “Osinbajo needs Tinubu more than Tinubu needs the Vice-President”.
“The greatest (long-term) threat to PYO’s ambition is Tinubu. The greatest (short-term) threat to Tinubu’s ambition is PYO. Even if PYO wins the primary election, he can’t become the next president without a pact with Tinubu,” Adeyemo said via a Facebook post.
“However, if Tinubu wins the primary, his path to the presidency narrows. And PYO will return to Ikenne.
“PYO has the blessing of some power brokers in the party, but I am not sure that he has breached the Tinubu camp, so that is a big problem. Even if they use the consensus option to get him (PYO) there, he will still have a Tinubu problem.
“There are multiple paths to get Tinubu to the presidency (the structure and resources are there), but there is only a guaranteed pathway to get PYO to the presidency (APC).
“If Tinubu wants to create a real problem for PYO (assuming Tinubu loses), he can factionalize the party, re-align with some other parties, then move his structure and resources there. I don’t know how far
“Tinubu is willing to go, but PYO and his handlers do not know Tinubu’s appetite to actualize his ambition. And that is the conundrum.
“Here is the simple truth: PYO needs Tinubu more than Tinubu needs PYO, but it is a race against time.”
