..Says Osinbajo Has Not Dumped APC, Still In Politics
Former Senior Special Assistant to ex-Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, says rotational presidency has come to stay in Nigeria, stressing that it will be difficult to terminate Southern presidency in 2027.
Akande stated this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.
Akande, while describing political merger talks and plots to return power to the North in 2027 as child’s play, said that such plans were not going to work.
“I think it is just child’s play to terminate Southern presidency in 2027. Nigeria has gone past that.
“The South is going to get its eight years. The North will get the next eight years.
“Politicians are just going to make noise. It is not going to be possible, really, to terminate the Southern term.
“Rotational presidency has come to stay in Nigeria. There is a national consensus around the idea of a rotational presidency between the South and the North.
“Anybody trying to reverse that is just joking. It’s not going to work,” he said.
Speaking on a possible merger among opposition political parties in 2027 against the ruling APC, Akande said mergers would not birth solutions to the country’s problems.
“All of these political mergers are not going to solve the problems of Nigeria.
“In 2014, there was a merger that led to the APC. There were a lot of expectations in this country. APC carried the national wave. Nine years after, where are we?
“We are nowhere different from where we were then because the core issues have been left unaddressed.
“So all of these mergers, even if they (proponents) succeed, what is going to happen is that they will just change the characters of people in the Government House.
“We need to understand that there are fundamental problems that have to be sorted out, and we cannot leave it to politicians,” he added.
He called on Nigerians to unite against common challenges, reiterating that politicians were those benefiting from the system.
According to him, Nigerians ahead of the 2027 elections must have discussions around national consensus on the rule of law, fighting poverty and corruption, issues of local government autonomy, restructuring, and the constitution.
Manwhile, Akande, a former spokesperson to ex-Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, says there is no reason for anyone to assume that Osinbajo has left politics or resigned from the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Akande made this statement during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, on Sunday in Lagos.
Recall that Osinbajo has not been active in many political circles since leaving office in 2023, sparking speculations that he may have dumped the APC and politics.
He served as Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State from 1999 to 2007 under Tinubu’s administration as governor.
Meanwhile, some political watchers have attributed Osinbajo’s retreat from political activities to his loss in the APC primary, while others believe he is devoting less time to politics following his recent appointment as Global Advisor for the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, GEAPP.
When asked about his former principal’s political stance, Akande said he would not involve Osinbajo in his own commentary.
According to him, Osinbajo never informed him of leaving politics and remains an APC member to the best of his knowledge.
Akande also stated that Osinbajo would attend any APC gathering requiring his presence.
“I don’t want to get the man (Osinbajo) involved in my own commentary, but there is no reason to think that he is no longer in the APC. He is still a member of the APC.
“If he gets an invitation to the caucus, you know, he will be there. I don’t think he has left the party,” Akande said.