The All Progressives Congress (APC) has termed the emergence of the former Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Yemi Osibajo, as its vice-presidential candidate as its “political joker” that has sent jitters down the spine of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Timi Frank, in an interview with journalists at the weekend, said although Osibajo may not have had political structures before his nomination, his selling point as a member of one of the biggest churches in the country has stood him out as a critical factor in the election.
“The issue of the vice-president is not all about structures. You can even be a presidential candidate who does not have structures. When Dr. Goodluck Jonathan became the president of Nigeria, he had no structures.
“Osibajo today may not have structures, but he is even better and because of his Christian background, he has a structure whether you like it or not.
“Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) is one of the biggest churches you can think of and has one of the largest followership in Nigeria today,” he said
Explaining how Osibajo emerged, Frank said the party believed it was necessary to carry everybody along and do everything possible to win 2015.
He said the idea of APC fielding a Muslim-Muslim candidates had been the expectation of the PDP, adding that the ruling party was clearly disappointed that its strategy did not work out.
“Whether you like it or not, these complaints are not coming from the leaders of the APC. They are coming from the PDP angle because their own strategy from the beginning did not work.
Right now, the PDP is confused because they felt it would have been easier to beat the APC if the party fielded a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“That was their calculation because they have turned Nigeria into a complex religious issue and issue of North versus South. Before today, there was nothing wrong in fielding a Muslim-Muslim ticket. During the 1993 elections, it was a Muslim-Muslim ticket that emerged.
“As a party, we try to take every religion along. It is not even the issue of religion, but we believe as a party that we should carry everybody along because we must do everything possible to win 2015.
“So if that was the case and we picked a Muslim-Muslim ticket, we know that we will be playing into the hands of the PDP and that is what they were going to campaign with.
“So we brought a candidate that who never expected would emerge. Successfully, we have announced our vice-presidential candidate. Yes, people are saying that it was Bola Tinubu who brought Osibajo.
“But let me tell you that in politics today, somebody must bring in somebody whether you like it or not. Was it not Obasanjo that brought Jonathan to limelight? Was it not Obasanjo who brought Umaru Yar’Adua.
“So the issue of Tinubu bringing Osibajo or anybody bringing Osibajo does not play out in this context. The issue is that somebody has emerged and as far as we are concerned, the APC now has an impeccable vice-presidential candidate, a man with character and a fantastic background and a man who we believe can do the job and that is why we said unanimously that he should be our vice-presidential candidate.
“As far as we are concerned, every other person who was considered for the post of running mate are fantastic individuals who you cannot be compared to the PDP vice-presidential candidate.
“So I can tell you that we did not chose Osinbajo, it is God that chose him for us as vice-presidential candidate at this point in time,” he said.
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