 Welcome back, Vice President Yamio Shibajo has joined the presidential race, as he officially declared his intention to contest the 2023 presidential election. He made the declaration in a short video broadcast shared via his Twitter handle after months of speculation. The vice president said he had served as Nigeria's vice president under a true Nigerian pre-chart President Mahmoud Buhari, as Shibajo will be contesting the APC presidential primary against Bola Ahmed Tinibu, a Minister of Transportation Rotimi Ameichi, Eboni State Governor David Umahi and Governor of Kogi State Yahya Bello. The vice president was once appointed Attorney General of Lagos State in 1999 by the then Governor Bola Ahmed Tinibu, and he held the position till 2007. Joining us to discuss this development is Michel Agatis, a political analyst and Ayodele Adewale. He is the immediate past Executive Chairman of Amor Andofi Local Government Area in Lagos State. Gentlemen, very good evening to you and thanks for joining us. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you for having me. All right. I'm sure you've both seen the interview, the clip of Bola Ahmed Tinibu being asked, your son has joined the presidential race and he says, which son? None of my sons is old enough to contest the presidency. What does this mean to you? I'll start with you, Mr. Adewale, former Chairman of Amor Andofi Local Government Area. Does it mean that Tinibu is now disowning his political protege as it were the vice president? Well, thank you for having me. Michel Agatis, look at that video, look at the context in which the question was asked. Some of you are approaching and say, oh, your son is starting a TV station. Of course, you know that the children are giving birth to you, do not have the financial muscle to own a TV station. So, apparently, we needed to respond in the context in which that question was asked. He does not have a son that is old enough to declare for a presidential vision. So, it's not a place to have said that. So, you don't feel, are you saying he's not aware, I mean that, but I'll come back to you. I'll come back to you. Let's bring in Michel at this point. Michel, are you there, please? Yes, I am. All right. Michel, do you agree with the point of your counterpart on this program and what are your thoughts, basically, is Tillwood disowning, officially, the vice president? Well, how I see it is that, to a large extent, it is the case that it is the general public that has put the appellation of Godfather and Godson in respect of the relationship with Professor Yemio Shibajo, the vice president, and Bola Mej Tinubu Asiwaju himself. There is no doubt that the relationship between them has been a symbiotic relationship where Tinubu, to a large extent, has helped the political career that we see for Professor Shibajo today. But I believe that the statement that he made, maybe it actually affirms the position that many in the Shibajo camp have held that, well, it has been a symbiotic relationship rather than a Godfather-Godson relationship in that context. I believe that the reporter who asked the question had asked it, trying to elicit a response. Right? And I don't think it would be too beneficial for us to dwell on whether that was being disowned, right, or saying that he didn't quite agree, particularly because Swada, that Southwest agenda, which is really pushing the agenda for Asiwaju himself, has come out to say, look, yes, we see that the vice president has declared, we welcome him to the race. And it is just to ensure that the right candidates speaking for the ABC emergence. So let's move beyond, you know, whether Godfather, Godson, and the like. And let's see if indeed we can see any upset in the primaries that we're seeing coming up first. Mitchell, could you have foreseen that Yemiya Shibajo will take on his political benefactor, if you want to call it that, for the position of president? Could you have imagined that in your wildest dream last year, in the year before the last? Yes. I would have, actually, I really would have imagined this happening. I may not have seen that both of them would be in the ring fighting for the same position. I had always imagined that it would always be a kind of relationship where even if Hashim Bajo had declared, you know, Tinnubu would still be in that role as benefactor. But again, in Nigerian politics, as we have seen, right, positions don't remain entrenched. They tend to be flexible. And we see that from time to time, you know, relationships between us to our political, you know, should I say bedfellows may sometimes degenerate. And in other instances, they may remain as a healthy relationship, despite the fact that that benefactor relationship may be developed. And that also comes across based on the maturity of candidates, right? There are certain times where a political individual may feel that they have come into their own politically and they can stand for themselves. And there are other instances where there may be a misalignment between the views of two political entities, in which case it is then the case where they have to ask themselves whether loyalty to a person should trump their own personal view as to how the state of affairs... But what do you think? Should loyalty to a person trump your own personal interest or agenda? I mean, it's a fluid question. But it's not one that we can always give a final answer in respect of. I think what we should always look out for in terms of a person's character is whether the person remains loyal to an idea, an ideal, and certain principles, such that when a person begins to depart from those principles, that person is loyal to. The person can then have flexibility to move away from. However, one should always remember that at the end of the day, with respect to human beings, what really then is loyalty. If it is the case that one is actively working against the interest of the other person, then it becomes problematic and we should look at the character of that person. If there is a situation like this where the APC has invited all people that are qualified to contest for this office to so do, and to the extent that we don't see any bad blood in how this campaign is conducted, then I think it's all well and good. All right. Is Vice President Yamio Shiba Joe stepping on political egg shells? In other words, is he sort of biting the hand that fed him? Well, I will speak to you from the point of an ideological background where some of them have come from. You see, it is very, very long to have tried to jump the process. The process, and of course try to jump the stream of leadership. If you remember that Aswajibullah made the move out to sacrifice his own comfort, he sacrificed his own ambition for the love of country when it was not right in this country to have a Muslim-Muslim treatment. The election that brought him to them was at the onset. And he was given the opportunity to look within, to bring someone that can support the president to make sure that he put this country back in his right to position. Aswajib knew very frankly well that he needed to bring in someone, there will be a team player, someone that will operate from the angle of comradeship. And that was why I believe that among the ranks on track, he decided to go for a Christian and a lawyer and somebody who will work as a team player and the person of Mr. Yamio Shiba Joe. And that was how he came to be. And of course it was a surprise to me that Aswajib could choose him. And if you also remember how Aswajib was covering him, it was a program, a lecture program when he was presenting a paper. And Aswajib was carried by his presentation. And of course he leaned out to him to call him to join his cabinet. And then I think that was in 1999, they were about, and the journey began. So if I was to be the vice president, I don't think I would join this race. I'm not here because Aswajib is very solid and he put in a perfect team. And he sacrificed so the love of country in order to push me forward for us to work as a team. So what should have been done rightly is that you allow Aswajib to go, we come to support him, and we all work for the love of country. I will make this country greater and better, like the Jewish people. All right. I'm sorry. Michelle Agatzi, you've heard from Adewale Ayodele. He said that indeed the vice president has jumped the political queue and he's biting the hand that picked him up from nowhere, basically from a public lecture and brought him into governance and pushed him forward sacrificially to be the vice president of Nigeria. So I mean, do you see the vice president as someone who is being ungrateful and not being loyal and not sticking to the script? Thank you for that question. And with full respect to Comrade Ayodele, and I see the point that Comrade Ayodele has made, and I respect the point he has made actually. And indeed, if this was a business that we're talking about, I would align fully with the point that Comrade has made. However, where I disagree or how I take a different viewpoint, not saying that Comrade's view is wrong, is that this is a situation where in terms of a vision relating to leadership of the country, particularly as a position that country is at this point in time, it is often the case that, you know, without having any bad blood, people may come to a realization that as far as they're concerned, they have a different perspective, a different viewpoints, and a different approach in order to take the country into the direction that they see the country coming to actualize its potential. And if that is the thinking that has informed Vice President Yemi or Shimbajewa's decision, I don't know the thinking that has informed it. I'm not in his campaign team or anything of that nature. I have an association with him. But if that is the thinking that has informed this decision, then I think it's the type of thinking that should be respected. Remember that what I said initially was that how we are going to determine whether there is bad character and play here is how we see this campaign for the ticket of the ABC playing out. What will be problematic is if it is a situation where dirty laundry is being aired in public and you can see that it becomes a personal vendetta against an issue of issues. Gentlemen, we have to live with that. Yeah, we have to live with that. Only time would tell if this would be to the disadvantage of both Shimbajewa and the Vice President being from the bearing in mind the fact that they are from the same political, geopolitical zone and probably the same structure as it were. Maybe this might play out to the benefit of the likes of Meiji and you have, of course, Abelo, who are from different geopolitical zones and Mahi as well. We'll see how it plays out. But thank you very much, Micho Agatisi and Ayodele Adewale. We're grateful for your time. Thank you so very much. Thank you. And thank you also, Comrade. It was great to meet you. Thank you for meeting me. All right. Indeed, and that's the much you can take. Thank you for staying with us on Plus Politics. We round up today's show with a compilation of social media responses to the presidential declaration of Vice President Amir Shibajewa Plus Politics. Returns tomorrow. I'm Kofi Bartels. Good night.