Nigerians will feel better with Osinbajo as president: Financial Times

The newspaper wrote that if Mr Osinbajo emerged president, “the hearts of Nigerian optimists would beat a little faster.”

HILLARY ESSIEN • January 31, 2022

Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Yemi Osinbajo

An editorial piece from the Financial Times has put forward Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as a better candidate for Nigeria’s president come the 2023 election cycle.

In the article released on Monday, the London-based newspaper notes that campaigns for the presidential elections in February 2023 have already begun.

“If Yemi Osinbajo, the technocratic vice-president, were miraculously to make it through the campaign thicket and emerge as president, the hearts of Nigerian optimists would beat a little faster,” the Financial Times said in its editorial piece.

“But that may be to underestimate the depth of Nigeria’s quagmire. The problem is not so much who leads the government as the nature of government itself,” the newspaper added.

The newspaper noted the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years of administration, which was described as “somnolent”.

On January 4, Peoples Gazette reported that Mr Osinbajo had informed Mr Buhari of his intention to run for president in 2023.

This decision has led to multiple politically exposed people showing support for Mr Osinbajo’s shot at a 2023 presidency.

Former military president Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida had publicly recommended Mr Osinbajo, putting him up as the best person to lead Nigeria in 2023.

A support group called The Organised Private Sector for Osinbajo (OPS4Osinbajo) had also thrown their weight behind an Osinbajo presidency, admitting in a report that he was more credible than APC national leader Bola Tinubu, who’s also looking to be president in 2023.

“The idealistic and very patriotic pursuit of various economic policies led by Osinbajo speaks volumes about future potentials for people-focused policies,” claimed the Osinbajo support group.”

The group added that, “Under his supervision, Nigeria’s social investment programmes have been ranked internationally, but much more good news should unfold when he is fully in the saddle by 2023.”

Mr Osinbajo is a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) and is considered a stooge of Mr Tinubu.

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