March 13, (THEWILL) – All is obviously not well between Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the National leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), who is also a presidential aspirant under the same party. An indication that the relationship between both men might, indeed, be frosty, as rumoured, emerged as Osinbajo clocked 65 on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Quite unlike him, Tinubu waited till the next day, which was Wednesday, to send birthday wishes to his friend and former Attorney-General of Lagos State.
Tinubu posted a terse message on his Twitter and Facebook accounts, suggesting that he was only doing so to ‘fulfill all righteousness’. Rather than upload a photograph of the celebrant, he accompanied the message with a photograph of himself, Osinbajo and their wives cutting a huge cake. At a glance, one would think it was Osinbajo’s birthday cake, but a closer look showed that it was the cake for Tinubu’s 67th birthday/colloquium celebration in 2019, which was designed with his signature cap and picture.
Tinubu made the birthday post all about himself rather than the person he pretended to be celebrating. Also, he did not bother to sponsor an advertorial to celebrate Osinbajo on the pages of any daily newspaper or magazine, not even in his own newspaper. A cursory look at some of the newspapers published on that day showed that Osinbajo’s birthday was pointedly ignored by members of the APC across the country, who would have been falling over themselves to take out paid advertisements to wish the Vice President a happy birthday. Those who call themselves ‘Tinubu’s boys’ avoided doing this in order not to be seen as sympathetic or worse still, loyal to Osinbajo. Only a total of 12 pages of birthday wishes across four daily newspapers were paid for by four politicians and two businessmen. His in-law, wealthy businesswoman, Bola Shagaya was less concerned.
Although Osinbajo has not publicly made known his intentions to take over from Buhari, his foot soldiers, have been flying the kite on his behalf. This speculation is one of the many reasons why the Vice President and Tinubu have become estranged. The idea is that Osinbajo should never have thought of joining the race for the Presidency in the first place, knowing that his alleged benefactor has been nursing such ambition for about eight years.
Osinbajo has said that at the right time, he will declare his stance on running for the Presidency. Their acrimony has also extended to their wives, Senator Oluremi Tinubu and Dolapo Osinbajo, as their once enviable friendship is no longer assured. In addition to being members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, the two used to be quite close, but that is no longer the case.
