Nigeria’s vice president to run for country’s top job in 2023

By Olarewaju Kola

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo announced Monday that he will run for the nation's highest office next year.

“In this period of seven years, I have served the government in several capacities, and have, at the direction of Mr. President, represented our country in sensitive high level international engagements. I have been to practically all local governments in Nigeria. I have been in markets, factories, schools, and farms. I have been in agricultural, mining and oil producing communities; in the Delta, in Kebbi, Enugu, Borno; Rivers, Plateau and Ondo; and in all other states of the federation, listening to the diverse experiences and yearnings of our people…Which is why I am today, with utmost humility, formally declaring my intention to run for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the platform of our great party, the All Progressives Congress,” he declared in a video message released in Abuja, the nation's capital.

He identified insecurity, the economy and education as key areas of his agenda.

The vice president joins over a dozen other political figures including six serving governors jostling for the country's presidential polls scheduled for early next year.

Nigeria's national elections have experienced violence and controversies in the past, fueling fears and concern about the future of democracy in Africa's biggest economy.

The current president, Muhammadu Buhari, completes his second term on May 29, 2023.