17th December, 2014
General Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate has picked Professor Yemi Osibajo as his running mate after long deliberation with party leaders.
According to reports, Osibajo sealed the ticket last night after party bigwigs weighed the various options for the pairing and ruled out a muslim-muslim combination.
This shut the door against a possible pairing of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu with Buhari but opened the door to having Osibajo, Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers and Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo among others.
Sources said that because of the way the nation has been polarised by President Goodluck Jonathan administration, on religious and ethnic lines, the APC swayed by the argument that only a religiously sensitive presidential pairing will be a winner in the 14 February 2015 election.
Osibajo, a law professor and former Attorney-General of Lagos state is a christian and senior pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).
Yemi Osibajo, 55, is the senior partner at SimmonsCooper Partners. He was for eight years, the attorney-general of Lagos State, during which wide-ranging reforms were carried out in the judiciary. The Lagos template became a reference point for the entire nation.
Osibajo is also a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN). He was educated at Igbobi College in Lagos, the University of Lagos, Nigeria (LLB, 1978) and the London School of Economics (LLM, 1980). He was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1979.
He has authored several books on civil procedure in Nigerian superior courts, rules of evidence and justice reform.
But does Osibajo have the political weight of Amaechi and Oshiomhole? be the judge.