Written on the 23rd
March, 2015 for Nigeria’s Presidential Election which was held on the 28th
March, 2015
Its 5 days to the Presidential Election in Nigeria and I
believe this is the best time for me to share the personal experience I had
with the Vice-Presidential candidate of the APC, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
In September 2010, I was in Lagos taking a deserving rest
after the 5 year-marathon at FUTA studying Biology, a multi-disciplinary subject
that sapped my mental energy completely when I came across the Excellence in Leadership
Conference (ELC) hosted by DAY STAR Leadership Academy powered by the revered,
Rev. Sam Adeyemi.
The programme was divided into sections based on about 5
core leadership areas. As a result of my undying passion for politics, I chose
the ‘Politics session’ and found my way to the arena where we were to be seated
waiting for the Guest speaker for politics. Few minutes later, Prof. Yemi
Osinbajo was introduced, and I said to myself, ‘Oh, the former Lagos State
Commissioner for Justice? Not a bad idea. Let’s hear what he has to say.’ I sat
upright, rolling my pen in-between my fingers, listening with rapt attention
and thrilled by the intellectual aura surrounding the guest speaker – I must
confess! He had statistics in his head like a living computer system and was
careful in the way he argued out his points in a clear, concise and unbiased
manner. Suddenly, I felt like making him my political mentor because he was
able to combine Academics with politics successfully (a feat I achieved in FUTA
and a future I still envisage for myself. #Winks).
When it was ‘Question and Answer time’, I wrote my question
quickly on paper on sent it down to him. We were about 500 in number seated at
the politics section and a lot of people were sending in questions. As a result
of time, the questions were thoroughly scrutinized before they were sent to the
Professor. At some point, I thought mine would not scale through because it was
politically sensitive but behold it did. ‘Sir, since PDP is the largest party
in Nigeria and Africa, and indeed from your explanations, we need a competitive
political space for our democracy to have some level of national benefits, how
then do you think the monopoly of power by the PDP can be broken for the economic
liberation of Nigeria?’, my question was read out loud! Everyone seated at the
area burst into laughter on hearing my question because they knew how sensitive
it was most especially for the fact that the programme was recorded.
The Prof. explained that a new formidable party (in terms of
ideology and number) will have to be formed partly from PDP and also from other
smaller parties but these members must agree firmly on the core values of the
party so as to separate their ideologies from the existing PDP. However, he
cautioned us that Nigerians are too used to ‘PDP’ and that any other party that
will give PDP a run for her money must produce candidates of excellent characters
to convince Nigerians for the need for a change in political taste to achieve a
balanced diet of democratic nutrition’. The Prof. gave a very intelligent
answer and got a round of applause in return. I’m sure he never knew that 5
years later he would be the Vice-Presidential candidate of the party he wittily
described.
 |
| Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the current Vice-President of Nigeria |
In December 2010, I was at the Redeemed Christian Church of
God’s (RCCG) Holy Ghost Congress themed, ‘All will be well’. Behold, Professor
Osinbajo was the Pastor anchoring the programme and I said to my elder brother,
Macaulay Olubukola, that’s the Professor I was telling you about! I have been a
member of RCCG since 1998 and I have lost count of the number of Holy Ghost
Congresses I have attended. However, this particular one was special for many
reasons. First, I was excited to see Prof. Osinbajo, my newly-found political
mentor anchoring the event and secondly, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was
physically present. In fact, it was the Prof. who announced the presence of the
President and invited him to the stage for a short speech. I’m sure the Prof.
never for once thought that 5 years later he would join Buhari to contest
keenly against Mr President mainly because the president was so loved by all.
You need to hear the screams when he was about to mount the podium. I saw with
my eyes millions of Nigerians raising their white chairs in the air and shouting,
Jonathan! He had the oil of gladness upon his head and was anointed for victory
even before the election. How then did he become so rejected in just 5 years?
(The 2015 Presidential Election Opinion Polls says it all as he was unable to
win any).
Now let me fast-forward the event to 2015! The day APC
announced that Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, a Professor of Law and a Senior Advocate of
Nigeria (SAN), would be Buhari’s Vice-President, I was shocked to my bone
marrows! I was Shocked not because he doesn’t deserve the position, but because
I didn’t see it coming. I never knew that any political party in Nigeria could
still be interested in choosing upright men, excellent in character, without
any political blemish in their past. On announcing him as VP, PDP was in chaos
for a while; didn’t expect the big punch thrown at them by the APC, carefully
orchestrated by the Jagaban (Bola Ahmed Tinubu) whom everyone hates including
me but the same man so hated, has produced two nationally-agreeable upright men
(Prof Yemi and Fashola), let’s give him kudos for that despite his questionable
character.
It pains me when I read some delusional comments that Prof.
Osinbajo signed an agreement with the Jagaban to quit the VP office for the
Jagaban to take over if APC triumphs in the elections. I just wonder why those who
designed the propaganda for PDP could not do it sensibly and effectively
despite been paid so much from our national treasury. Whew! The Prof. whom I have
met physically and who also took permission from his spiritual leader, Pastor
E.A. Adeboye before accepting APC’s offer, would never be involved in such a
thing. I don’t need an evidence to know it! It’s like your referees asking you
to provide a physical evidence for your good behaviour before writing you a
reference letter. Of course it would be foolish of them to do so because they are
expected to judge you by the character they have known of you and not by any
paper evidence of any sort. In the same vein, I know this Prof. so well because
I have followed him in the last 5 years and can vouch to a great extent for
him. Even, Pastor Adeboye once visited Prof. Osinbajo’s parish at Banana Island
mid last year and told him he is a man after his heart. Let’s assume that
people can be fooled; True men of God cannot be fooled!
My support for this man (Prof. Yemi Osinbajo) is not because
he is a senior pastor of my church or because he is a Yoruba man. My support
emanated from my first physical contact with him in September 2010, a time when
no human knew he would become a Vice-Presidential candidate of the APC! He
stole my heart and remains my political mentor! I foresee a new government
where Buhari will handle corruption matters and the supervision of governmental
affairs whilst the Prof. will handle the administrative aspects that bother on
the economy and development. Buhari’s firmness and anti-corruption disposition
plus Osinbajo’s towering intellect and bright ideas are expected to be a rock-solid
combo and a wonderful gift to Nigeria’s democracy. We do not know how their
partnership will fare but believe me, it is a risk worth taking rather than
supporting the continuity of a government that even succeeded better in the
last 6 weeks than it did in the last 5 years. Now, tell me, you think such a
rush in activity can be sustained for the next 4 years? Please Nigerians wake
up!!! No one is saying that Buhari/Osinbajo is the messiah pair! All we are
saying is that we need fresh legs in our political affairs. Fresh Financial
Ministers to think of how to get us out of our current mess most especially how
to rapidly solve the skyrocketing exchange rates. Our political space is in
need of new ideas from other credible leaders as the current ones have honestly
tried their best after almost 6 years in power.
Unlike our current VP, Arch. Namadi Sambo a.k.a Samboribobo,
who is a shadow-cast of Goodluck Jonathan, I foresee an in-coming VP (Prof.
Osinbajo), who would be more active in power! Even during campaigns, Sambo has
been taking the back seat so what makes you think anything would change in this
next 4 years? As for the Prof. he has been on his own tour, talking to people
and even attended town hall meetings sharing the policies of the Party – This is
a VP that looks more like it. The Al Gore type!
DEAR NIGERIANS LET US TRY BUHARI/OSINBAJO NOT BECAUSE A
MIRACULOUS CHANGE WILL OCCUR BUT BECAUSE WE CAN HAVE FRESH LEADERS IN ASO ROCK
TO RETHINK OUR SITUATION FOR US AND GET US OUT OF OUR CURRENT MESS AS THE GOVT CURRENTLY
IN POWER HAS SIMPLY LOST IDEAS!!!!
THANK YOU.
