In Defence Of Yemi Osinbajo By Wumi Akintide

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I proudly rise in defense of Yemi Osinbajo as the most levelheaded, loyal, hardworking, incorruptible and intellectually gifted and eloquent Vice President of Nigeria in my opinion.

I humbly disagree with a cross section of Nigerian News Media and bloggers who think otherwise of the diminutive but erudite Vice President whose only crime as a top notch lawyer and a former Attorney General of the most sophisticated State in Nigeria is to believe, hook, line and sinker in the Nigerian Constitution which describes the VP as only a heartbeat from the Presidency and not a spare tire as conjectured or deposed by some smart Alec Nigerians in our midst.

As far as I know, and left to me alone, his aspiration to want to be President regardless of how he was handpicked by Bola Ahmed Tinubu for Buhari is perfectly understandable given his amazing profile as an achiever of no mean caliber from his youth and as a product of Igbobi College, one of the best Secondary Schools in Nigeria where I served as a graduate teacher under Reverend Olatubosun as Principal, Pa Talabi Esubiyi as number 2 and Vice Principal and Mr. Olowu as Senior Tutor till 1968.

If many of you reading this think I have been too soft on the VP, I owe you an explanation, up front, in the interest of full disclosure.

Vice President Osinbajo like former Governor now Minister Raji Fashola, Samuel Oluyemi Falae, former Secretary to the Federal Government and so many distinguished Nigerians I know like former Chief Justice Teslim Elias, Michael Ibru, former Nigerian Foreign Minister Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, late Otumba Subomi Balogun, to mention a few that readily come to mind, were all products of Igbobi College founded in 1932 by the Anglican Communion or CMS of Nigeria.

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Let me begin this defense by telling my own personal experience and encounter with Yemi Osinbajo who had entered Igbobi College long after I had left the College in 1968 to join the Federal Civil Service where Alhaji Sule Katagun was the all powerful Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission and Sir Dr. Manuwa the first Nigerian to qualify as a medical doctor as his Deputy.

The Yemi Osinbajo that I know is not one to blow his own trumpet to announce on the megaphone the many good things he might have done as VP. That he doesn’t talk about it much is no reason to conclude that he had done nothing. That is a job Buhari himself should have acknowledged in many of his self-serving valedictory speeches to the nation, one week to the inauguration of the new President.

I therefore reserve the right to take it upon myself to share this personal experience of him by me for whatever it may be worth.

I once applied for the renewal of my Nigerian passport by the Nigerian Consulate in New York.
I had waited for more than a year waiting in vain for the Consulate to renew my passport which would have taken less than three months to issue or renew and to mail back to me thru the US Post Office like is done in the United States.

I got so pissed and frustrated that I decided to take liberty of my Igbobi connection and leverage as an old Igbobi teacher to address a protest or petition to Yemi Osinbajo introducing myself and telling him and his Government my experience and frustration with the Nigerian Consulate and counting myself as the Devil’s advocate to draw his attention and to urge him to take some remedial action in his capacity as Vice President and Acting President for several months while his boss President Buhari was out sick and bedridden in London with so many rumors being peddled around at one point that Buhari had been dead in London and buried in Saudi Arabia and that a Buhari clone Jubrilla from Sudan was the one minding the store in Aso Rock.

As ludicrous and laughable as that rumor was, there were many in Nigeria including my cousin Frank Bello in London with whom I once had a running battle over the claim in his popular podcast on YouTube in the Social Media that he could bet his life that the Northerners were pulling a fast one on Nigeria and lying that Buhari was long dead.
I knew Buhari very well and I disputed the claim but my cousin stood his ground.

To cut a long story short, without giving a formal response to my petition, I saw incontrovertible evidences and indicators that the Vice President had quietly taken action without making any noise about it. He is that kind of guy.

A few weeks later I got a surprise phone call from the new Consul General of Nigeria Ambassador Ben Okoyen informing me that my passport would be delivered to me in a few days and the gentleman had kept his promise with precision in response to the VP.

The Ambassador later got posted to Cuba and his successor Ambassador Epijago from River State had continued the good work of his predecessor to this day even holding a Town Hall meeting with Nigerians in New York and the Tri State Area to bring the Consulate up to speed in living up to the sound improvement introduced by Ambassador Okoyen and reinforced and consolidated by Ambassador Epijago within a few months of his posting to the Consulate.

I know the problems of many other Nigerians like me who may have been impacted by the quiet but effective intervention of the Vice President.

So those who want to blackmail him as a do-nothing VP are definitely misinformed and should double- check their facts.

I rise in defense of the VP with all the emphasis at my command.

The guy being a Ph.D holder and a Law Professor with gravitas serving under a President whose academic qualification and School Certificate had been called to question,had to be humble and careful not to overshadow or intimidate his boss in any shape or form.

Nigerians with some modicum of intelligence have to factor that awareness into their equation, like I do, in criticizing Yemi Osinbajo.

objective Nigerians who are fair minded ought to cut Osinbajo some slack for being so considerate and loyal and respectful of his boss at all times.

I give the VP high marks for being very deferential to his boss and doing so with understandable respect and decorum befitting his status as a Redeem Pastor who preaches Humility on the pulpit more often than his boss or any Nigerian In similar positions of authority in our country.

I saw something that those who criticize him as a do- nothing VP have just refused to adequately acknowledge.

I was glued to my TV the day Osinbajo’s Helicopter carrying 12 passengers crash landed right before our eyes in Kabba while he was on a campaign trip in 2019 to visit the monarch of Kabba on behalf of President Buhari.

Most people had expected the Helicopter to explode or catch fire upon crash-landing but the good Lord had taken control to save his life and those of his entourage in a miraculous way.

Many onlookers gathered at the open field to welcome him had run away from the scene expecting the worse.

It took a few people’s courage to drag the VP and his frightened and disheveled passengers who we’re petrified to their pants to be dragged out of the Helicopter. It was a close call

But surprisingly the VP had betrayed little signs of fear as he insisted the planned visit must go on.

It showed a profile of Yemi Osinbajo that nobody myself included has ever seen or noticed.

The little man had shown an uncanny courage and turpitude in my opinion.

I said it before and I would say it again that President Buhari could have treated Yemi Osinbajo more differently than he did by his going for a consensus candidate 24 hours before the APC Convention in Abuja. It was clear to all and sundry that his first choice was Ahmed Lawan, the Senate President.

I put all of the blame on Buhari for not standing up for Yemi Osinbajo to be the one to succeed him knowing all that he knew.

It was like Buhari was trying to knock the head of innocent Osinbajo against that of the Octopus Bola Ahmed Tinubu who for more than 20 years had laid up the building blocks for him to be elected President of Nigeria by hooks or crooks.

I put a little blame on Osinbajo for not quickly recognizing the handwriting on the wall like Amosun, Kayode Fayemi and Yaya Bello who quickly withdrew their names from nomination only to throw their support to Tinubu at the eleventh hour to save themselves from total ridicule and humiliation like Pastor Tunde Bakare and Osinbajo who daily communicate with God but had their ass kicked when they both lost in a a landslide to the only Oloolu Masquerade in their midst, the one and only Tinubu.

Tunde Bakare the delusional 16th President of Nigeria did not receive a single vote beyond his own.

Those who compare Osinbajo to Buhari who did everything in the book for his home base in Daura but could not empower his VP to do anything for Ogun State or the Southwest, are not just being fair to Osinbajo who has little or no power to do what Buhari had the power to do under the Nigerian Constitution.

Buhari unlike Obasanjo did not delegate too much to Osinbajo like Obasanjo had done to Atiku to curry the favor of Atiku and the powerful northerners during their 8 years in office from 1999 to 2007.

Osinbajo had done as much as could be expected of him, all things considered. He deserves more praises than condemnation in my opinion.

Any Yoruba man or any Nigerian calling Osinbajo a traitor are totally misguided and ill-informed in my opinion.

If President Tinubu is as strategic and godly as he claimed he recognize that Yemi Osinbajo has remained and can continue to remain one of his greatest assets in Nigerian Politics because Osinbajo has the most valuable assets that Tinubu is going to continue to need in quantum to be the best President he could ever be

Why? Because in 8 years as the number 2 the guy has seen it all and he know many of the pitfalls of Nigeria and where the bodies are buried just like Asiwaju Tinubu and can become one of the greatest ambassadors of Tinubu as a brilliant Professor of Law with an uncanny brain and a gift of the garb like the great Harold Wilson or Winston Churchill of Great Britain and could do for Tinubu what Obafemi Awolowo had done for young and politically inexperienced 32 year old but charismatic and lucky Yakubu Gowon who went back to school to bring himself to speed In education after serving as Military Head of State for more than 8 years in the greatest country in West Africa as a compromise choice to keep Nigeria one.

I briefly served under Obafemi Awolowo when he was Federal Commissioner for Finance, Deputy Chairman of the Federal Executive Council led by General Gowon and Chairman of the Special Task Force on Student Financing in Nigeria in 1974.

It was for me an unforgettable experience I would never forget till I die It was an experience that completely changed my life and shaped my views and understanding of the country called Nigeria I have written so much about and those who run it.

I cannot wait to see Yemi Osinbajo write his memoirs. The guy delivered a powerful eulogy on Ahmed Bola Tinubu at a Coloquum in Lagos marking his 70th Birthday.

It was the most powerful profile of Tinubu I have ever heard and it was part of what had catapulted Tinubu to be President in my own opinion.

I wrote about it wondering why the Hell Yemi Osinbajo would think he could take on Tinubu and beat him in a fair contest for the Presidency of Nigeria?

It was a gross miscalculation and a big mistake on Osinbajo’s part but Tinubu must not hold a grudge against Osinbajo because the country and the whole world still need Osinbajo.

Need I say anything more?

I rest my case.