Osinbajo Has No Power As VP -By Bayo Adeolu

Three centuries ago America’s first Vice President John Adams in 1789-97 had written that “America my country has contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived ” many years later in April 1945 with the death of President Roosevelt, President Harry Truman succeeded him and had declared no Vice President will come to office unprepared for the job as he did and initiated a number of statutory reforms among them making the Vice President a full member of the cabinet and national security council.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953-1961 was responsible for the next significant turning point in the development of the Vice presidency. I personally believe, he declared the Vice President of the United States of America should never be a nonentity. I believe he should be used and have a useful job. The office of the Vice President is one of growing importance. Today the Vice President of any nation whether it be America or Nigeria is sought by politicians of considerable status who are attracted to it by the opportunities it creates for performing valuable service to the nation.

A Vice President is effective and active if a President wants him to be, since he derives all his assignments from the President. Taking the American model as example the growth of the Vice Presidency has been evolutionary but significant growth occurred during the Jimmy Carter-Mondale years 1977-1981. Before taking office, Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale discussed the role the Vice President would play in that administration and Mondale expressed his preference for assuming a general trouble shooter role, hoping to serve as the eyes and ears of the President. Jimmy Carter moved the Vice Presidents Office into the White House (previously the Vice President had been located in the executive office building which is adjacent to the White House). The move was not only symbolic it also had practical consequences for it placed the Vice President in the flow of decision making. Carter and Mondale had a close working relationship. Mondale did serve as adviser to the President often meeting with the President many times during the course of the day for more often than his predecessors had. Mondale also served as an effective liaison to congress and as a stand in for the President in party politics. Mondale understood a lesson that his long time political mentor former Vice President Herbert H. Humphrey had taught him that only the President determines what a Vice President will do. If he wants to be effective, a Vice President has to play a behind the scene role. His advice must be directly to the President his loyalty must be 100%.

The Vice President has no power or job because the framers of the constitution felt a Vice President was necessary in the event of the death or disability of the President. A moderate ego demonstrates wisdom what specific roles a Vice President will play depends not only upon his understanding of these rules but also upon the particular needs of the President and his administration.

Another example is Vice President George Bush’s incumbency where he benefited from the advice Mondale gave him. Bush serving as an adviser to President Ronald Reagan but had kept a very low profile. As for specific duties Bush headed the administrations crisis management team which would assume responsibility during domestic crisis and periodically served as the administrations spokesman. Nigeria has fashioned its democracy and democratic government like the American one which means the Vice President is not heard or seen only in crisis times like emergencies and when the President is unavailable either health reasons or if the President dies or is impeached.

The Vice President is therefore like a spare tyre and only becomes useful in case of emergency. However as politicians take office in Nigeria they often forget their specific roles and the limitations to such positions they hold in government.