A South-West group, New Tribe, has declared that 80 per cent of Nigerian lawyers will vote for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo because he’s the most reliable person to succeed the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in 2023.
The group also cleared the air that Osinbajo was not ungrateful to the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, by competing the presidential ticket of the party with him.
The coordinator of the group, Barr. Bioye Akerele, stated this on Tuesday, in Abeokuta, while addressing supporters of Believe Movement led by a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Ogun State, Gboyega Isaika.
The group expressed readiness to mobilise other lawyers under the auspices of Nigeria Bar Association if Osinbajo declares his presidential ambition.
He stated that Osinbajo is the only credible person in the APC that would lead Nigeria to the promised land, stressing that Osinbajo had served public offices with integrity.
He said, “Today, I introduce to you the New Tribe. It means new healthy government, new partners, no stealing government money, integrity people, and healthy government. We will not be treating ourselves abroad with Nigerians money. I want to assure you that 80 per cent of lawyers in this country will vote for Osinbajo, I am telling you because I am also a member of Nigeria Bar Association. I can tell you that there are politics going underground.”
Akerele added that the national leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu, lured Osinbajo into governance while he was working with the United Nations.
“Professor Yemi Osinbajo was the first Attorney General ever produced in Lagos State. I would like to correct an impression about Osinbajo that he is ungrateful to Bola Tinubu. He was not ungrateful. He was serving as a lawyer in the United Nations when Asiwaju lured him to become Commissioner in Lagos State. Rumours have been circulating that Osinbajo is not grateful because he wants to compete with Bola Tinubu.
“We were not mobilised for this campaign by Osinbajo, we are volunteers for this campaign in the South-West region. We are concerned about the development of Nigeria not just by electing someone who is not capable,” he said.
In his address, the Chieftain of the APC in the state, Isaika noted that he supported Osinbajo’s presidential ambition because of his integrity and capacity.
Isaika assured that he would continue to work for the emergence of Osinbajo as the next president of Nigeria.
He said, “The essence of this gathering is to announce and celebrate the alignment and endorsement of our movement called the New Tribe which is made up of professionals and put together to canvass for the aspiration of Professor Yemi Osinbajo as president of Nigeria.
“The believe is about character, integrity , capacity and knowledge and also service to humanity, this to me are the critical things we want as a leader and this is what we have been pushing.
“We see all these in the Vice President in terms of capacity, in terms of integrity, in terms of his character and we just feel that he aligns very much with what we stand for. All that we have done here today is to bring the leadership of our movement together, we have held series of meetings and eventually we agreed to do this.”
(punch)
