By Tony Okoroji
Before this week, there were those who told me point blank that Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, would never contest the Nigerian presidency which his avowed benefactor, the Jagaban Borgu, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu wants so badly. Tinubu has told one and all that the Nigerian presidency is his life-long ambition. I am sure Osinbajo knew that all along.
Those who argued with me could not see how Osinbajo would “betray” his mentor by seeking the same job his mentor wants so badly. There are those who were sure that if PYO was tempted to throw his hat in the race, he would eventually chicken out because he is not known to have any personal political platform to match the fearsome Tinubu machine. There was the other question of where Osinbajo would get the zillions of naira to meaningfully challenge Tinubu and others with well-known war chests and stocked bullion vans. Added to all these is the whispered pact between Tinubu and President Buhari for Tinubu to succeed him.
Those who were sure that Osinbajo would not run may not have sufficiently studied political history. For seven years, Yemi Osinbajo has been one heartbeat away from the Nigerian presidency. He has been so close that every day, he has been enveloped by the sweet aroma of the perfume of the presidency. In some of the many travels of President Buhari, Osinbajo has been Acting President, exercising the enormous powers of the President of the Federal Republic.
Bola Tinubu has been Senator, Governor and party Leader. He has never been President, the very peak of the pyramid of power. Meanwhile, Osinbajo who has never been Senator, Governor or Party leader has tasted power at the very peak. Some say that power is an aphrodisiac. Osinbajo has tasted this aphrodisiac. Forget conjecture and be human; if you were in the shoes of Osinbajo, would you give up the chance to be President in your own name, without a fight?
President Joe Biden of the United States was Obama’s Vice President. He tasted the aphrodisiac. He would not rest until he became President. Mike Pence was Donald Trump’s Vice President. Mr. Pence is presently scheming to be the nominee of the Republican Party for the 2024 elections notwithstanding the fact that Trump is rumoured to still have his eyes on the Whitehouse. Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush became successors to their principals, Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, respectively.
In Nigeria, erstwhile Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan contested and was elected President after the passing of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Alex Ekwueme, Vice President to Shehu Shagari did everything to be President in his lifetime. Atiku Abubakar, Vice President to Olusegun Obasanjo, is still in the race to be Nigeria’s President. The truth is that it is not normal for anyone who has seen what power can be done with at the level Osinbajo has seen it, to throw away the opportunity of deploying it. Throw into the mix who the current President and his coterie of supporters trust to protect the President’s legacy, agenda and interests and cover-up his shortcomings.
In a way, the successes of both Tinubu and Osinbajo have become their albatross. For several years, Tinubu has had by far the most effective political machine in the South-West. In Lagos, he is an emperor. It is believed that nobody gets any position of note in Lagos without Tinubu’s imprimatur. His wife is a senator; his son is said to control outdoor advertising and his daughter who is not known to be a market woman leads the market women.
Tinubu is not an Aliko Dangote who owns a cement factory and a fertilizer plant and thousands of trucks. He is not a Femi Otedola who sits atop the Diesel oil trade. He is not a Mike Adenuga whose Globacom and Conoil can be seen generating cash every day. But the Jagaban seems to have more money to spend than all these people put together. Many have become scared of him. Buhari’s people don’t trust him. They wonder what will happen if the entire Nigerian federation becomes Tinubu’s playground. That has become his burden as he seeks to achieve his life’s ambition. There are those who say that he has seen the handwriting on the wall and may be tinkering with running under a different political platform than the APC which he principally helped to fabricate with Rotimi Amechi.
Yemi Osinbajo has been very successful in not having any known open confrontation with Buhari, despite what must be two different personalities and visions. Osinbajo with no known political platform cannot smell the Aso Rock Villa without the support of Buhari, Buhari’s foot soldiers and their resources. I cannot see how Osinbajo would have declared to contest the presidency without the full-throated support of Muhammed Buhari. I am sure Osinbajo knows that the big task before him is to assure Nigerians that their tomorrow would be better than their rather hopeless today, under Buhari. How does he separate himself from Buhari and at the same time remain tied to Buhari? That is the biggest challenge of Professor Yemi Osinbajo’s campaign.
I watched the Osinbajo Orchestra roll out earlier in the week. Buhari’s back-up singer has become the lead voice in what is meant to be a new band. I listened very attentively to PYO’s speech. I have written here before that I am a sucker for words masterfully put together. I believe that words used the right way can move mountains. They can make men fight like hell in war. The right words can bring peace where strife reigns. The architecture of change is words.
I am one of those who believe that Nigerians have had to endure the excruciating pain we are suffering today because we have a president who has very little skills in the use of words. The difference was clear in Yemi Osinbajo’s well-crafted and delivered speech. He spoke like a modern-day leader. I listened to the Vice President talk about “Radically transforming our security and intelligence infrastructure” and “Creating a tech economy that will provide jobs for millions”: all good intentions.
The promise he made that hit home with me is “Ensuring justice for all and the observance of rule of law” I have said repeatedly that I am a rule of law person. I verily believe that if we are ever going to have a country worth its name for our children, the rule of law must take hold in our country. Our judges must sit up and be bold. They have to take the lead. We have come to the point where it is either the courts or the cutlass.
There must be very few people who still feel that Osinbajo is a fringe candidate after witnessing the roll out of the Yemi Osinbajo Orchestra this week. I have read some of the reviews. After seven years of being Buhari’s man Friday, how does PYO separate himself from Buhari and at the same time remain tied to Buhari? That is a very delicate dance.
See you next week.
