Osinbajo's campaign team congratulates Tinubu as he emerges winner of APC primaries

VICE president Professor Yemi Osinbajo has congratulated former Lagos State governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu over his recent victory in the presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which held in Abuja yesterday.

In what was a long day, 2,322 APC delegates gathered at the Eagle Square in Abuja to elect their flagbearer in next year's presidential elections. At the start of the day, there were 23 aspirants but as events unfolded, several of them withdrew from the race, many of them urging their supporters to vote for Asiwaju Tinubu.

As the day wore on, the event turned out to be t three-horse race between Asiwaju Tinubu, Professor Osinbajo and former Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi. At the end of the counting, Asiwaju Tinubu got 1,299 votes, with Governor Amaechi and Professor  Osinbajo securing 316 and 235 votes respectively.

Senate president Senator Ahmed Lawan got 152 votes while the Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State scored 47 votes. Among all the aspirants who procured the N100m nomination forms, 23 were successfully screened to participate in the primary but  quite a few withdrew from the race before voting began.

Asiwaju Tinubu will now face former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential elections. Richard Akinnola, the spokesman for the Yemi Osinbajo Campaign Organisation, has congratulated Asiwaju Tinubu, saying he has no regret in supporting Osinbajo in his push to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr Akinnola said: “Congratulations, Asiwaju Tinubu. In any contest, there must be a winner. However, I’m very proud of my choice of support in the person of Prof Yemi Osinbajo.

“I have no iota of regret over my support for him. It was a privilege to play a pivotal role for him during the process. I would gladly do it over and over again. It’s a matter of conviction.”