Nigeria: VP Joins Presidency Run

Nigeria’s presidential elections for next year just gained another contender in the form of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

In a speech posted to all his official social media accounts on Monday, 11 April, Osinbajo officially declared his intention to run for the country’s highest office; he has served as incumbent Muhammadu Buhari’s second-in-command for nearly seven years.

“I am today, with utmost humility formally declaring my intention to run for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said, dispelling many months of rumours and lingering uncertainty for the 65-year-old politician’s future.

In the same breath, he referred to Buhari as a “true Nigerian patriot and a servant of the nation.”

An unwritten rule in Nigerian politics is that the presidency rotates between Muslim and Christian candidates, and many are expecting a Christian from the south to be elected after Buhari, who is a Muslim.

The Nigerian presidential elections are scheduled for February 2023.

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