I am one of the people who believe the recent declaration of Prof Yemi Osibanjo’s Presidential ambition was not singlehandedly decided by him. I want to believe it is a well orchestrated plan decided on by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Prof Yemi Osibanjo and some other prominent people in their caucus. My opinion is informed by their past relationship and the reality of the political machinery at their disposal. Besides, Prof Yemi Osibanjo is too informed to go against his political ally and as a renowned professor of law, a reputable pastor and Vice President of seven years, he should know better than anyone else, the influence and power wielded by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and this is evident in the 2015 and 2019 general elections which brought in President Muhammed Buhari. Buhari couldn’t have won without the support of Asiwaju Tinubu and his political caucus and the history is too recent to distort. If President Buhari could not win as popular as he was in the North until he aligned with Asiwaju Tinubu, Prof Yemi Osibanjo needs no prophet to tell him what lies ahead of him should he go against Asiwaju Tinubu. But I trust him, he is too informed to commit such suicidal mistake.
However, if truly Prof Yemi Osibanjo is ready to go against Asiwaju Tinubu and solely relies on the support of President Buhari and his cabal for his presidential ambition, I would just draw an inference from similar occurrence in the past and hopefully, he may learn from it. It was Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who was so interested in inheriting power from the British that he ignorantly went against the Zikist Movement, his people, so as to please the British. But the British were clever, they knew it was just a plot and if he could deny the Zikist Movement which was established to celebrate and promote his ideas, he would not have problem in denying them once power gets to his hand. He was disappointed in the end.
So, in this story, Prof Yemi Osibanjo is Nnamdi Azikiwe, Asiwaju and his caucus represents the Zikist Movement while President Buhari and his cabal represent the British. Let’s wait and see if the Professor will commit a similar mistake, but like I have said earlier, I trust him, because he is too informed to make such a mistake.
Moreover, Prof Yemi Osibanjo is an Omoluabi, but an Omoluabi is not defined by great speech or street credibility, rather, it is defined by the actions of a person in time of doubt, when he is left to either choose between the collective progress of the people he represents or to betray them for his personal ambition. So, is Prof Yemi Osibanjo an Omoluabi? Well, time will tell.
