Prof Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s vice president, has said losing the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is a loss of the battle, but not the war.
The vice president who spoke on Friday Osinbajo in Abuja at the campaign office of The Progressive Project (TPP), a coalition of support groups that backed him for the presidency, noted that he remains committed to the dream of a new Nigeria.
Osinbajo, however, assured that he would support Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the party’s presidential candidate.
A statement from Laolu Akande, the vice president’s spokesperson, said he was received by a large crowd at the TPP office in Abuja, what he described the clamour for a new Nigeria as a movement.
“This movement is a movement within a party also, we are not doing something that has not been heard of before. What is new is that we have a firm belief that a new Nigeria is possible and it is possible through us who are here,” Osinbajo said.
“We went to the convention, and the results showed us clearly that we lost, but it is only a battle; it is not the war. There are battles ahead, but we will win the war for a new Nigeria. I have no doubt in my mind that we will win that war for a new Nigeria.
“That is why our movement for a new Nigeria must remain strong and firm. And we will do everything to keep our movement strong and solid”.
According to the vice president, despite the result of the APC presidential primary, “the dream of a new country remains alive and well.
“We will have at the back of our minds, that what you have started in the various movements, coming into one, is the seed that will birth a new nation. You and I know the time has come and we will devote everything to it.
“I am committed and will remain committed to that dream (of a new Nigeria), for as long as you are willing and recognize that we have not yet written the story of this country, we have not yet completed the story of this country. As a matter of fact, the story has just begun, this movement has just started.
“A new Nigeria has only just started, and everywhere across this land, it will be clear to all that a new Nigeria has been born. Once the genie comes out of the bottle, you cannot put it back. The word has been spoken; it cannot be taken back: it is time for a New Nigeria,” Osinbajo added.
Pledging support for the APC presidential candidate for the 2023 elections, Osinbajo recalled the personal letter he wrote to Tinubu on Thursday congratulating him on his victory at the party primary.
“In that letter, I said to him that the dream of this country, the dream of a new country, remains alive and well. And I want you to know in your hearts that we are democrats when we participate in a contest and the results are announced.
“No matter what those results may be, we abide by them because there is only one process for democrats, whether that process is good or bad, there is only one, and we have gone through that process.
“And in that process, a winner has been adjudged, but that does not kill the dream of the great future. We will support our party; we will support the flagbearer of our party because we know that the other side is not even worth considering. So, we will support the flagbearer of our party, we will do everything we can,” he said.
Thanking Nigerians at home and abroad, including the Osinbajo support groups, for the overwhelming support for his presidential bid, the VP noted: “When we started this race, I never believed that we would have so many young men and women who would believe so passionately in the cause of a new Nigeria.”