The Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, said on Monday that he intends to run for president next February on the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) Party ticket. However, he confronts a challenge from another party stalwart who has stated his intention to enter the race.
Following a presidential election on February 23, 2023, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will stand down after serving two four-year terms.
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By June 3, the country’s major parties are expected to choose their presidential candidates. According to the country’s electoral commission, the official campaigning will begin in September of this year.
In a statement, Osinbajo stated that he wished to accomplish the task of “radically transforming” of Africa’s largest economy.
However, only hours after his announcement, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a southern Muslim and rich power broker who served as governor of Lagos from 1999 to 2007, met with governors of the governing party to solicit their support for his candidacy as presidential candidate for the All Progressives Party (APC).
Tinubu told reporters during a meeting with governors who have power over party candidate selection: “My mission is to seek the collaboration, encouragement and support of my party for my ambition and mission to become the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Rotimi Amaechi, the transport minister and former two-term governor of oil-producing Rivers state, also stated his desire to run for the APC’s presidential nomination over the weekend.
In Nigeria, power is rotated between the oil-rich, mostly Christian south and the impoverished, predominantly Muslim north. Buhari is from northern Katsina state, and the APC has decided that the party’s next presidential candidate would be from the south.
Osinbajo, a southern Christian, would need to develop a strong coalition of wealthy supporters to take on Tinubu’s political infrastructure, which assisted in campaigning for and delivering victory for Buhari during the 2015 and 2019 elections.
Osinbajo’s supporters see him as a steady hand who will pursue a more liberal economic strategy, including loosening FX regulations. Previously, he has chastised the central bank for maintaining currency restrictions while those in opposition see him as a stooge of the Fulani oligarchy without anything resonable to offer.