Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has not endorsed Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the Lagos State All Progressives Congress governorship primary scheduled for Monday, his Media Office has said.
This runs contrary to the impression created by a photograph that showed Osinbajo with Sanwo-Olu trending in the media.
His Office said Osinbajo merely came to Lagos to plead with the party leaders to allow a level playing field for the two contestants, the other being the incumbent, Akinwunmi Ambode.
According to the statement by his office, Osinbajo on Saturday attended a meeting of the Lagos State Governor’s Advisory Council, where he had been invited by the elders on the council.
Before the meeting, the Vice President, who had been in Lagos to participate in the presidential primaries in the State, had met with Ambode and the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu.
APC gubernatorial aspirants Sanwo-Olu and Obafemi Hamzat, who later stepped down, were also at the premises of the GAC meeting ahead of the Vice President’s arrival.
At the GAC meeting, Prof Osinbajo, who is believed to be supportive of a second term bid for Ambode, conveyed the view of the Buhari Presidency that there should be a level playing field in the overall conduct of the primaries.
Informed sources at the meeting said the purpose of VP’s attendance at the GAC was to report on a previous meeting held between him and Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State on how to resolve some of the outstanding issues around Ambode‘s second term bid and its fallouts.
The source said: “It was while he was coming out of the meeting that Mr. Sanwo-Olu and Mr. Hamzat took advantage of the VP’S presence to take the photos, which are now being falsely paraded as proof of endorsement.
“The VP did not go to endorse the candidate, they only took advantage of his presence.”
NAN.
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
