Mustapha Ogunsakin, a senior journalist, claims that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo turned down the opportunity to become Nigeria’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice under ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.
The journalist revealed this on Friday, according to Anaedoonline.ng, amid charges that Osinbajo has abandoned his benefactor and national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, by announcing to run for president in 2023.
Obasanjo allegedly offered Osinnajo, who was then the Lagos State Commissioner of Justice, the position of AGF in 2005, but the Nigerian vice-president turned it down out of devotion to Tinubu, according to Ogunsakin.
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He said: “In 2005, President Obasanjo invited Osinbajo to take appointment as the Attorney-General of the Federation after Chief Akin Olujimi left office. Obasanjo saw the sterling qualities and performance that Osinbajo had as Attorney General of Lagos.
“The president without informing Bola Tinubu, the then Lagos State Governor, offered the post to Osinbajo who was then Lagos State Attorney-General. The first thing Osinbajo did was to inform his principal, Tinubu, who gave him a free hand to take his decision.”
According to the veteran journalist, Osinbajo asked Obasanjo to release the withheld Lagos State Council funds before he accepts the offer.
But Obasanjo asked him to first take the appointment and then advise him as Attorney-General of the Federation on the matter.
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Ogunsakin said: “Osinbajo went underground and for weeks Obasanjo could no longer reach him.
“It was obvious to the then President that Osinbajo deliberately avoided him; he went on to appoint Chief Bayo Ojo as his Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
“Osinbajo rejected the position of Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and stayed with Tinubu; nobody complained then.”
While cautioning those calling Osinbajo a betrayer, Ogunsakin said the VP not only stood with Bola Tinubu, but stayed loyal to Lagos State.
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