By Ayodele Oni
An Aide to the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has defended his decision to contest for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) last year, saying “he couldn’t have just walked away like that.”
The Aide said the decision was borne out of other reason of the interest of the public.
According to Laolu Akande, the presidential ticket slug out by Osinbajo with others including Bola Tinubu was not meant to slight anybody.
His decision to contest had drawn criticism from members of the Lagos APC, with some describing his ambition as a betrayal of Tinubu.
But early this week, deposed Emir of Kano, Sanusi insisted that Osinbajo remains a formidable presidential material in Nigeria.
The vice president was the attorney-general of Lagos when Tinubu was governor of the state.
Speaking on Friday in an interview with Channels Television, Akande said Osinbajo contested because he believed that he possesses the necessary experience, qualifications and inspirational leadership qualities for the office of the president.
“What is important is that you take the step you want to take in the best interest of the people. Public interest is the overriding factor.p
“You couldn’t have been vice-president for eight years, and the kind of vice-president that he has been, and how much work that has been done.
“The level of understanding that you have acquired in terms of what has to be done and the capacity he has demonstrated when he had the opportunity to act for the president.
“And he has inspired tens and scores of millions of Nigerians with his leadership style. People see him as a representation of a new Nigeria. All of these can’t be in place and he just walks away.
“He did what he needed to do and the party made the decision and he just has to move on after doing the right thing.”
Osinbajo was largely absent from the campaign trail of the APC presidential candidate in the run-up to the elections fuelling speculation that he was not supporting the eventual winner of the primary election.
Tinubu went on defeat Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) in the presidential election.
The two defeated candidates have filed petitions at the tribunal to challenge the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to declare Tinubu winner of the election.
 last year, saying "he couldn't have just walked away like that."){kind=link}