Osinbajo under pressure to rejoin presidential race with Kwankwaso

There appear to be renewed plots in political circles around the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s camp to draft Osinbajo back into the 2023 presidential race.

Although close aides of the Vice President described this as mere speculation, arguing that their principal won’t be leaving the All Progressives Congress, APC, sources insisted at the weekend that there were active suggestions going on regarding the possibility of an Osinbajo/Kwankwaso ticket on the platform of the NNDP.

Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano State, is the presidential candidate of NNPP, a new party that seems to resonate with political elements across many northern states.

The latest moves comes as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo lost out in flying the All Progressives Congress flag in next year’s presidential election.

Osinbajo, a professor of Law, was roundly beaten by his former mentor and political associate, Bola Tinubu, at the end of the party’s presidential primaries in Eagle Square, Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.

Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, scooped 1,271 delegate votes to emerge as the party’s candidate in next year’s presidential polls.

Rotimi Amaechi, a former minister of transportation, polled 316 votes to come a distant second.

Osinbajo polled 235 votes to finish third.

A total of 2,322 ad-hoc delegates drawn from the 36 states and FCT participated in the primaries to elect the APC flag bearer.

Twenty three aspirants declared their intention for the party’s ticket. They include Vice President Osinbajo, former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, former Science and Technology Minister, Ogbonnaya Onu, former Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba and former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio.