2023: Group raises alarm on smear campaign against Osinbajo

A political group, the Osinbajo Grassroots Organisation, OGO, has accused an unnamed member of House of Representatives of putting together a group with the intention of embarking on a smear campaign against Vice President Yemi Osinbajo ahead of the 2023 presidential election election.

OGO, which is one of the groups seeking to drag Osinbajo into the 2023 presidential race said this in a statement on Wednesday by its national convener, Slyvanus Ojo.

The group said the smear campaign was intended to give the candidate being supported by the lawmaker and his group advantage over the Vice President in the bid to determine the successor of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

OGO, however, warned against the smear campaign, advising instead that all those interested in presidency should be put on the table for the electorate to pick their choice.

The group said, “It has come to our notice that some political jobbers led by a fellow in the House of Representatives have come together with an agenda to defame the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo so that they can give their candidate an edge.

“We do not believe this is how to play politics. Let everyone who feels he is qualified for the position of President of Nigeria take his message to the electorates.

“Let them put their qualifications before the people. Let them come up with well-articulated program and agenda to consolidate President Muhammadu Buhari’s legacy and move the country to another level.

“We have seen and been privy to some of these plans in the past but we have chosen to ignore him and his co travelers. With the recent one they are trying to embark upon we can no longer keep silent hence the need to issue this statement.

“We do not even know why they fear so much a man who is yet to declare an interest in becoming President. For anyone to think that the path for him to rise is to destroy another, destruction awaits such a person at the gate.

“We however do not believe in the politics of mudslinging,” OGO said.

The group warned that it may be forced to retaliate if attack on Osinbajo continues and even increased the pressure on the Vice President to declare his interest in 2023 presidency.

“We therefore want to sound a note of warning for the jobbers that if they attack Osinbajo we may be pushed to go after their principal as well.

“For the fact that they think this Osinbajo is their only obstacle to power, we shall heighten our pressure on him to hearken to our call and enter the ring,” the group said.

It added that the Vice President is as qualified as any other Nigerian to seek the highest office in the country as stipulated by the constitution.

“We are not practicing monarchy whereby someone can be said not to have blue blood. The qualification for the office is very clear and Osinbajo has this in abundance and it cannot be questioned, doubted, or rubbished.

“He is well educated, knowledgeable and exposed. He has no baggage of any kind and he is well loved and respected across the country. He may not be a dealer.

“Yes he is not wealthy. His riches are in his knowledge, his hard work and his integrity which we all can attest to.

“This is specifically is why he is most qualified at this time to assume the position of leadership in Nigeria after another man of integrity has completed his term.

“He is just, he is reliable, he is not greedy and he will not convert the commonwealth of Nigeria to his own and that of his family.

“So we call on you the hatchet man to sheath your sword so that you don’t bring opprobrium on whoever you may be working for. A word is enough for the wise.

“He treats everyone equally, poor or rich, Christian or Muslim, king or plebeian. As Nasiru El Rufai once said Osinbajo is as comfortable in the midst of Alfas as he is with pastors. He is a friend to Kabiyesi’s as he is with Emirs and Obis.

“He is fair and just, not minding whether you are from the North or South, Hausa- Fulani, Yoruba or Igbo, Bachama or Junkun, Kanuri or Efik.

“Osinbajo is “pure as crystal, gentle as a lamb, brave as a lion and chivalrous to a fault and the most perfect man in the political field” to borrow the words of Mahatma Gandhi in his description of his mentor, Gopal Krishna Gokhale,” OGO said.