Of Osinbajo, His Presidential Ambition And The Rest Of Us -By Gozie Irogboli

It is no longer secret that the Vice-President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo is aspiring to succeed his boss President Mohammadu Buhari as President of the country. His intention to contest for the exalted office proclaimed on the 10th day of April, 2022 put paid to months of speculation on the subject. And since then, many of his supporters have gone to town singing his praises dressing him in the garbs of honor, integrity and ingenuity, making many wonder if it is the same Osinbajo, the second man in a regime that has put the nation in a state of topsy-turvy; a regime that brought death, misery, insecurity and disunity in the polity. Evidently, we have not seen anything in this regime that will make anyone associated with it to be adorned in a toga of honor, integrity or competence. So how can somebody in the face of what is happening in the country at present possibly describe Osinbajo as man of integrity and clean record? Does a man possess clean record simply because you love him or because he is a professor, your church member or and your tribesman?

Much as his supporters are trying very hard to dress him in these borrowed garbs, Osinbajo many believe, has in the past seven years that he functioned as the Vice-President shown lack of integrity, intensity, intelligence and ingenuity in handling the affairs of the country. And so many observers do not trust his competence and are seriously in doubt about what more he has to offer the nation. For trust is a function of the perception the people have about your reliability, integrity and competence.

Constitutionally, the Vice-President is Deputy Chairman of the Council of State, the National Defence Council and the National Security Council. He is the Chairman of the National Economic Council and Chairman of the National Privatization Council. He is also the Chairman of the Debt Management Office (DMO) supervisory board. Also National Emergency Management Agency Act 50 of 1999 made the Vice-President the Chairman of the Governing Board. Again, the Vice-President is supposed to supervise the board of National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS).

Furthermore, by the National Boundary Commission Establishment Act (2006), the Vice-President is supposed to be the chairman of the board and the board of Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA). Moreover, he is to superintend in the affairs of the country in the absence of the President.

The question those rooting for Osinbajo have not answered is: in which of this constitutionally assigned role has he done well? And the answer is none. Nigeria is like a country at war with itself as scores of Nigerians die on daily basis in the cruel hands of the bandits and terrorists that are riding rough shod on the nation. Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world with a recessed economy and unemployment rate, exchange rate, inflation and debt stock is galloping to the sky top. I do not want to bore you with the gloomy statistics; they are there in the public space. In the socio-political sphere, the nation is polarized and our fault lines dangerously exposed more than ever before due to the divisive policies of this regime. Some of the agencies under him are in shambles; meaning that he has not done well. But regrettably, rather engage productively, he is entangled with petty programs as the school feeding program and Social Intervention Funds. This year the government is estimated to spend a whooping sum #144 billion which is about 20% of Education budget of #742.5 billion on the so-called Home Grown School Feeding Program. To me this is as unnecessary as it is fraudulent. On the Social Intervention Funds, I have observed somewhere before that: “the selective distribution of #10,000 to the traders is a reflection incompetence, poor policy engineering and poverty of ideas on the part of the initiators of the program. Also, it is more or less an affront on the sensibility of the people. It is a show of apathy to the sufferings of the people. To wait for the election period to begin to give hand-outs to the traders in exchange for their voters’ cards smacks of fraud and blasé attitude. It is a reflection of how the government regards the electorate: people that are only relevant for electoral duties only. This is a shame.” It is an avenue for corrupt enrichment.

Clearly, Prof Osinbajo has a case to answer for the ignoble roles he played in the fraudulent Social Intervention Funds and the School Feeding Program and the mismanagement of our subsisting privatization program. A case in point his unilateral decision to cancel the Lagos International Trade Faire Concession and the forcible ejection of the concessionaire, Aulic Nigeria Limited without due process and without recourse to the subsisting court judgments on the matter.

Obviously, the impact of the Vice-President is not felt in this government if he is the ordained Pastor, the erudite Professor of law and the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) as he is being presented. Rather what we see is like a fawning appointee, doing the bidding of his principal. He has consistently worked against free speech and civil advocacy using hate speech as a camouflage. He defended the herdsmen and bandits and urged Nigerians to pray for them while he said IPOB should be destroyed. If a professor of law and a SAN cannot distinguish between terrorism and agitation for self-determination then something is wrong. So if the VP has not acquitted himself creditably as VP, he will not do so if elevated to the exalted office of the President. This may sound ad hominem but it is said that he who cannot be trusted over little cannot be trusted over much.

Worse still, Osinbajo is the cheerleader of PMB failures; playing the devil’s advocate, defending and celebrating failure. So, this implies that he shares PMB primordial vision of nationhood and so if elected President, would not be any different. And just as he cannot extricate himself from the ills of Buhari regime, he cannot disentangle himself from that of Tinubu regime in Lagos either. Shortly after his expression of interest to vie for the office of the presidency, Tinubu camp accused him of betrayal and that is stigmatizing. Can we trust one who is accused of betrayal? But beyond that, he was Tinubu’s attorney general who it is alleged prepared all the legal mago-mago as it is expressed in public lingo that led to the wholesale acquisition of Lagos by Tinubu.

His loyalists attributed his non-performance to constraints and interferences from Aso Rock cabal. It is alleged that on a number of occasions he was sidelined in national security meetings where he is supposed to be the vice-chairman and even when he acts in his capacity as acting president most decisions he took in the absence of the president are usually overturned. Obviously, his excuse-makers are doing more damage to his reputation. The more they try to defend his incompetence, the more they present him as a mere stooge who has no mind of his own. If he is a man of honor as they claim and yet the so-called cabals undermine his office and sideline him on crucial national issues and he remains without challenging it or resigning, it means that he lacks principles and therefore cannot be trusted.

Again, some of his loyalists say that his refusal to challenge the obnoxious policies of the government is a sign of loyalty and humility. But this is ridiculous and farcical! He was elected along with the president so his loyalty is primarily to the people. Compromising principles to please your master is not humility but lack of self-will, self-esteem and integrity. It is naïve and misleading to think that loyalty means blind solidarity. Leadership is about people, purpose and situation. You need, character, skills and style to influence people to achieve shared goals. Subserviency is not a leadership skill.

Atiku Abubakar (GCON), the erstwhile Vice-President under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo regime was a quintessential public officer who knew his constitutionally assigned role. He made his impact felt strongly in his time as Vice-President. Every good program of that government has Atiku’s imprint. He was in the team that negotiated Nigeria’s debt relief from the Paris Club. He was instrumental to the formation of EFCC and ICPC and in fact, Nuhu Ribadu the first EFCC chairman was his nominee. When Governor Chris Ngige was abducted by political renegades in Anambra State, the President did nothing. It was Atiku’s intervention that saved Ngige from forced resignation and possible assassination. Atiku believes in the rule of law. On several occasions he took OBJ to court to challenge his questionable decisions and won all the cases he instituted. He was aware that his loyalty was not to the President but to the nation. If not for Atiku’s intervention, OBJ would have succeeded in his insidious Third Term Agenda and would possibly have transmuted into a life president thereafter. Atiku did all these at the risk of his life and political future. That is a principled and a courageous leader.

Also, in 1986 during Gen. Babangida regime when there was the OIC imbroglio, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, the second in command was in the center of the storm but rather than comprise his principles he resigned honorably. IBB would have obliged him any ambassadorial position of his choice. But he is not bugged down with perks of office.

So, before we are hoodwinked again into repeating the mistake of 2015, it is necessary to do a critical appraisal of those who have indicated their intention to contest the 2023 Presidential election. Just as some of us did before 2015 when political jobbers brought a fundamentalist whitewashed him and adorned him in a borrowed garb of honor, integrity and valor, we will continue to sound off Nigerians to be wary of repeating the mistake of 2015. At this period of our history, Nigeria does not need a lame-duck president who would serve the interest of drones and puppeteers that have had a strangle hold on us. The truth must be told that the likes of Osibanjo want to be in office for the perks of office and not necessarily to make a mark.

There is no gainsaying that one of the greatest problems of this country is the existence of drones who cannot do without stealing from the government; people who have acquired weird and exotic life-styles which can only be funded by stealing from the common purse. They cannot survive without the government and hence will do anything to remain at the corridors of power even when they have nothing at all to offer. Even when they have outlived their usefulness they hang on because of the perks of office. They are the ones that precipitate corruption, mediocrity, nepotism, impunity and low national productivity. They are the unscrupulous politicians that will whip up ethnic or religious sentiments when their positions are threatened in order to cling on to power. Nigeria cannot afford to continue to accommodate public officers without ethical scruples; political jobbers, political contractors, pettifoggers, professional and jobless politicians whose only business is politics. They are the bane of the country called Nigeria.

Gozie Irogboli
An economist, public policy analyst and novelist
(goziei@yahoo.com)