General Muhammadu Buhari Picks Tinubu Ally, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo As His Running Mate

 
Full post after cut.....................

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), picked former Attorney General of Lagos, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, as his running mate in the upcoming presidential election. APC agreed on Prof. Osinbajo Tuesday night as he was Mr. Tinubu’s  first choice candidate. 

The biography of Pastor(Professor) Yemi Oshibajo is worth perusing: Yemi Osibajo is the senior partner at SimmonsCooper Partners. Yemi is a professor of law and a former attorney-general of Lagos state and commissioner for justice. He is also a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN). Yemi was educated at the University of Lagos, Nigeria (LLB, 1978) and the London School of Economics (LLM, 1980). He was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1979. He is a top cleric in the powerful Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, and the Chairman of the governing board of the Redeemer’s University. He has authored several books on civil procedure in Nigerian superior courts, rules of evidence and justice reform. Yemi Osibajo has 31 years of litigation experience including significant trial and appellate work. Mr. Osinbajo is also connected to the powerful Awolowo political dynasty by marriage. He is married to the Late Chief Awolowo’s grand daughter.

According to Inside party sources, when Gen. Buhari expressed an open preference to have a running mate from the South West, Mr. Tinubu offered him a three-man choice that had  Mr. Osibajo, himself [Tinubu], and Mr. Fashola, as the prospects. But his game plan according to his aides, was a strategic ploy to reinforce Mr. Osibajo’s candidature and dim Mr. Fashola’s prospective choice since it seemed Mr. Buhari appeared to have a soft preference for him. The ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP,  and many of its campaign slogans have sought to milk the deficit implicit in a possible Muslim-Muslim ticket, an arrangement that would have emerged in the event of either a Tinubu or Fashola candidature as running mates.

Nevertheless, before settling for Mr. Osinbajo, the leadership of the APC had first resolved either Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State or Adams Oshiomhole of Edo in the South-South geo-political zone by narrowing its search to the South West region. In line with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010, political parties have up till Thursday to submit names of their presidential and vice presidential candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC]. The National Chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, had told journalists on Tuesday that the party would announce its presidential running mate today in keeping with the nation’s electoral law.