Ojudu counters Charles Omole’s claims, says Osinbajo discussed presidential ambition with Buhari

Babafemi Ojudu, an ex-presidential adviser, has countered Charles Omole’s claims about the presidential ambition of former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.

In a biography titled From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, unveiled at the State House on Monday, Omole, who authored the book, said the late former president did not back Osinbajo’s presidential ambition, primarily because incumbent President Bola Tinubu was also in the presidential race.

Omole added that Buhari found it “strange” that Osinbajo would contest against Tinubu, whom he regarded as the vice-president’s political benefactor.

Quoting sources close to the late president, Omole said Buhari remarked, “I don’t know Osinbajo from anywhere; I met him only through Tinubu.”

The author wrote that sources said, “Buhari was not impressed that Osinbajo did not ‘consult’ him or seek his advice.”

However, in a statement on Thursday, Ojudu, who served as the special adviser to the president on political matters in the office of the vice-president from 2016 to 2022, maintained that Osinbajo discussed his presidential ambition with Buhari on four different occasions.

He recounted occasions in which Buhari advised Osinbajo about his presidential ambition, adding that the late president even said the former vice-president was “by far the best person for the job”.

The former presidential adviser said Osinbajo “could not realistically have contemplated a presidential run without the active backing of” Buhari.

“The matter of whether Vice President Osinbajo should run for President was discussed directly and personally between him and President Muhammadu Buhari on no fewer than four separate occasions,” Ojudu said.

“On each of these occasions, President Buhari expressed clear, unequivocal support for the Vice President’s ambition.

“At no time — explicitly or implicitly — did President Buhari suggest that Professor Osinbajo should refrain from contesting.

“At no time did he indicate a preference that the Vice President should defer to, step aside for, or subordinate his ambition to any other aspirant, including the eventual nominee of the party.

“On the first occasion, President Buhari advised the Vice President to reflect carefully on the prospects of a presidential bid, make up his mind and assured him that he would support whatever decision he took.

“By the third discussion, President Buhari went further. In his considered judgment, he stated plainly that Professor Osinbajo was by far the best person for the job.”

Ojudu said anyone who writes about Buhari’s presidency must, as a matter of “fairness and inquiry”, reach out to those who are concerned for their own side of the story.

“To embark on such a project without seeking their account is not serious scholarship or history. It is advocacy masquerading as biography,” the former presidential adviser said.

“Only a hack would attempt to fix the record of a complex administration by relying on hearsay, grievance, and one-sided recollection while deliberately ignoring those who were central actors in the events being described.

“History is not written to settle scores. It is written to illuminate truth. And those who bend it to serve personal animus may enjoy a fleeting moment of attention, but they rarely survive the judgment of time.”