Prof. Yemi Osinbajo
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has ended all speculation by officially declaring his intention to run for President of Nigeria next year, 2023.
In announcing this intention today, Monday 04/11/2022, the Vice President said: “For the past seven years I have served as Vice President under a true Nigerian patriot, a servant of the nation in war and peace. and a man of integrity, President Muhammadu Buhari. Today, with the utmost humility, I formally declare my intention to stand as a candidate for President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the platform of our major party, the All Progressive Congress.”
The phrase “a man of integrity, President Muhammadu Buhari” aroused my enthusiasm, which is why I was encouraged to write this article.
The dictionary defines integrity as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. People of integrity are expected to be honest, sincere, and righteous, with a high level of moral integrity. Integrity, therefore, goes hand in hand with honor or the ability to know and do the right thing. That’s morality.
Vice President Osinbajo is an attorney, law professor and senior advocate whose primary preoccupation should be promoting the cause of justice. So he is well aware of the legal implications of actions. That’s legality.
But Vice President Osinbajo is also a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God whose primary occupation is providing spiritual guidance to members, including preaching and preaching, through interpretation of the biblical scriptures. So he is very aware of the moral implications of actions.
Also Read: UPDATED: Finally Osinbajo to Enter 2023 Presidential Race
I am not a lawyer but I do know that the Nigerian Constitution gives every person entitled to vote or be elected in any election the right to vote or be elected in that election, including election to office of President presidents . This is legal and as a Nigerian and one with the required credentials, Osinbajo has every right to challenge this.
But as a pastor with knowledge and experience in providing spiritual leadership, I think God placed him in a position to contrast legality and morality. And this article is meant to awaken his moral conscience as it pertains to the virtue of loyalty.
That’s because he spoke about integrity, the integrity of his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari. But before Buhari became his boss, he was commanded or even built by another boss, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu, commonly referred to as Asiwaju, the Jagaba of Borgu.
Prior to Osinbajo’s statement today, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu had long made the same statement, which he described as his lifelong goal. And he said he informed President Muhammadu Buhari of his ambitions to run in the 2023 presidential election. If he had informed the President, and there is a presidency, it was natural that he had informed the Vice President. So there is a conflict of interest between Tinubu and Osinbajo here, and one that would highlight the conflict between legality and morality.
It is essential to have an overview of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s political career and in doing so I would paraphrase an old Guardian article which reads:
“The emergence and prominence of Osinbajo today in the national arena was fueled by the political machinery of Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He is the enigmatic former governor of Lagos State who has built an empire on a scale and magnitude unmatched by many before him as governors of Lagos State. The Empire has political and economic roots in Lagos, but with several thriving branches that have borne and are still bearing financial fruit in many parts of the South West and other regions of the country. One of these branches is the person of Prof. Osinbajo. Osinbajo entered the political scene in 1999 when he was appointed Lagos Attorney General and Justice Commissioner by Tinubu. Tinubu also single-handedly recommended and secured the adoption of Osinbajo as Buhari’s collaborator. So the relationship between Tinubu and Osinbajo should be that of a mentor and a mentee. A benefactor and a beneficiary. A leader and a follower. An apprenticeship-like relationship built on the expectation that one’s duel will be the other’s cause. Undoubtedly, Prof. Osinbajo was a first-rate academic, but what he learned while working with Asiwaju cannot be found in any educational institution with a rich curriculum that would have provided him with those curriculums and the knowledge he gained during those years of close collaboration, holding hands and acquired mentoring. ”
Vice President Osinbajo is truly free to compete against any opponent. But in the first place, if integrity is important, if honor is important, if virtue is important, if humility is important, and if there is respect for correct behavior, should that adversary be Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu, under whose wings he thrived? Struggling against your benefactor’s lifelong ambition?
Like Julius Caesar’s remark when he was about to cross the Rubicon, the die is certainly cast. Osinbajo had made a decision with apparently irreversible consequences. And this decision is designed to encourage infidelity of integrity.
Ibrahimwrites a media consultant from Abuja
Vice President Osinbajo running for President
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