Former President Muhammadu Buhari offered to support Yemi Osinbajo’s ambition to succeed him, contrary to claims that he opposed the former vice-president’s 2023 presidential bid, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo’s former spokesman, has said.

Akande’s position contradicts an account by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, who argued that Buhari would have considered it “highly immoral and distasteful” for Osinbajo to challenge Bola Tinubu in the All Progressives Congress presidential primary.

In a statement on Saturday, Akande said Buhari had offered to support Osinbajo on at least four occasions, disputing the suggestion that the late president was unwilling to back his former deputy’s ambition.

He also cited a Federal Executive Council meeting in 2022 at which Buhari publicly commended Osinbajo’s presidential campaign, presenting the incident as evidence that the former president did not oppose the bid.

Lawal had based his position on Buhari’s longstanding political relationship with Tinubu, arguing that the former president would have viewed an Osinbajo challenge to the APC leader as a breach of political loyalty.

Akande also challenged Lawal’s allegation that appointments made under Osinbajo favoured members of his church, insisting that the former vice-president’s office reflected religious and ethnic diversity.

The exchange has brought renewed attention to the political relationships and competing accounts surrounding the APC’s 2022 presidential primary, which produced Tinubu as the party’s candidate for the 2023 general election.

Osinbajo, who served as vice-president from 2015 to 2023, contested the party’s presidential ticket against Tinubu and other aspirants.

While Lawal’s account centres on Buhari’s relationship with Tinubu, Akande’s response rests on his claim that Buhari repeatedly indicated a willingness to support Osinbajo. The two accounts offer conflicting interpretations of the late president’s position on his deputy’s presidential ambition.