The former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Bayo Onanuga, says he regretted introducing Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to former Lagos Governor, Bola Tinubu, in 1999.
The Spokesman for the Bola Tinubu Presidential Campaign Organisation made this in an article released on Monday in Abuja.
Onanuga said Tinubu picked Osinbajo from the classroom at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and made him a Commissioner for Justice and the Attorney-General of Lagos state in 1999.
The veteran journalist said Tinubu included Osinbajo’s name as part of his cabinet in the presence of former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and former Lagos Commissioner for Information, Dele Alake.
Onanuga recalled that Tinubu had written down the name of Bayo Oriola as the Commissioner for Justice before he asked Tinubu to nominate his bosom friend, Osinbajo.
The veteran journalist said when he nominated Osinbajo and spoke highly of him, Tinubu asked him to invite the Vice President over.
He said: “Looking back now, did I regret what I did in January 1999. Yes, I would say I have some regret, especially since my action hurt Bayo Oriola; and my apology to Oriola once again. I could not have foreseen today’s turn of events between Tinubu and Osinbajo, who I nominated to be justice commissioner.
“After the meeting, I went to Osinbajo’s house in Ogudu to invite him to meet the new governor, Bola Tinubu. I remember entering the apartment from the kitchen. The wife was there when I delivered the message and left the house with him, later.
“I have never published this story before and hereby want to apologise to my namesake Bayo Oriola, for blocking what should have rightly been his entitlement, going by the role he played during the campaign. I hope Oriola would have the heart to forgive me.”
Onanuga said that Alake and the former Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Babatunde Fowler, also recommended Osinbajo to be nominated as the justice commissioner.
The former NAN boss added that Tinubu later nominated Osinbajo as the running mate to President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 election which they won.
