2023: Why Osinbajo is the best candidate for President
On 11 April 2022, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo declared his intention to run for president in the 2023 election as the All Progressives’ Congress candidate.
His declaration is one which was meant with a nation wide reaction,one which to a great extent established his popularity among Nigerians and the international community.
The enthusiastic response to his declaration on Twitter saw him have a record breaking Twitter response 345,000 views. 27,000 likes. 18,000 retweets Over 3 million impressions. In less than 6 hours. Over 150,000 views on Facebook and over 15,000 views on YouTube within six hours.
While several other candidates have come out to declare their presidential aspiration, it can be arguably said that he remains the best fit to lead the nation come 2023.
Americans describe the office of the vice president as a heartbeat away from the presidency. This is in reference to the fact that the vice president automatically succeeds the president in the event of the latter’s death, incapacitation or removal from office. Nigeria experienced that scenario in 2010 following the death of President Umaru Yar’adua and the inauguration of President Goodluck Jonathan to complete their term.
In some advanced democracies too, especially in the United States, the vice president is usually the front runner to succeed a term-barred president. Given the foregoing, why are there speculations about Mr Osinbajo’s ambition?
At 65, he is not considered too old to run for the office. He is also not known to have a health challenge, at least not since he came to Abuja in 2015.
He is one man in whom the president boasts and trust. Such was the trust so much that in 2017 for 104 days when the president traveled out for medical attention, the vice president acted in his capacity and in that little time Nigerians experienced what they had always been praying for.
The vice president using that opportunity pushed governance to another level of speed and precision. He took major decisions and actions and with time was been seen as the super hero of the ruling party but as some would say, the canals were not happy with the development and as such found a way to set him up in order to keep him on a low and grounded.
Despite being dragged to the mud as the vice president of the federal republic of Nigeria, vice president Yemi Osibanjo’s love and support for the person of the president has never dropped one bit and this is the kind of heart every leader should have.
Mr Osinbajo is widely seen as a loyal and competent vice president. There is no record in the public domain of a dispute between him and the president, which is a remarkable development given the recent history of power relations at that level in Nigeria.
Going by the records, in the history of vice presidents in Nigeria, he holds the record as the one with the best working relationship with his principal officer.
Furthermore, Professor Yemi Osinbajo is one man who would do more for Nigerians if elected and sworn in as the president of the federal republic of Nigeria come 2023.
Looking back, when the vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo was appointed Attorney General of Lagos State in June 1999, he initiated the reform process of the entire judiciary, relying on strong support from the state governor. As head of a justice policy committee set up by the Governor to review the entire legal system of Lagos State, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo commissioned a widely publicized study that showed the judicial system to be suffering from rampant corruption and severe backlogs in the adjudication of cases. The findings and recommendations of that committee’s report, he is on record to have ensured its full implementation.
In his current role as the vice president, his contributions and specific interventions in fostering national development can be discussed within three broad frameworks, and these are first legal and constitutional interventions, second the economic development and growth interventions, and the third social impact interventions.
Under the Legal and Constitutional interventions, it is on record that the vice president led the efforts that culminated in the resolution of the EndSars Protest which was the nationwide protest that threatened the entire fabric of our society. The vice president brought about the idea of judicial panels in all states of the federation to deal with cases of police brutality.
This was adopted by State governors at the National Economic Council. Also, the vice president led the charge and has always stood for the rule of law and in the interest of all Nigerians, regardless of ethnicity. In his capacity as then Acting President, he defended the constitution by firing the then former Director-General of the States Security Service who allowed officers of the SSS to violate the sanctity of the National Assembly and violated the Nigerian constitution. Acting President Osinbajo defended the constitution and described the invasion as an assault on Nigeria’s democracy that should not be tolerated. Also, vice president Osinbajo saved the party, APC, from litigation by suggesting APC EXCO members become Caretakers.
Within the framework of economic development and growth interventions, it is on record that the vice president provided the needed push which aided the process of making farmers and livestock herders have more access to government support, and he enabled the implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) as well as interventions in Farmer-Herder Conflicts.The NLTP project was centered on providing land for livestock farmers.
The government launched the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP), an initiative whose sole objective is to improve livestock farming by providing land for ranching. The NLTP is a program conceived by the National Economic Council under the Chairmanship of the Vice-President Prof. Yemi Osibanjo.
In the same vein, the vice president worked assiduously toward ensuring the Ease of Doing Business, with the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council inaugurated by President Buhari in August 2016 and the Enabling Business Environment Secretariat (EBES) which has resulted in Nigeria moving up 39 places on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings since 2016.
In the last three years, Nigeria has twice been adjudged one of the 10 Most Improved Economies in the Rankings. In the area of enabling Micro Small and Medium Scale businesses (MSME) to grow, the vice president has ensured that MSME Clinics have been held in 27 States across the country including the FCT.
Furthermore, the vice president’s involvement in technology development and TECH Space access brought about the following landmark achievements. First, Google Inc. July 2020 announced plans to establish its first Google Launchpad Space outside the United States in Lagos, Facebook, in September 2020 made public its decision to open an office in Lagos as part of its planned expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa and HUAWEI, the biggest mobile manufacturer promised the Vice President that the company will position Nigeria as a technology center for the African continent and give more jobs to young Nigerians.
Vice president Yemi Osinbajo stands firmly in that gap, to link the past to the future and close the dots of a collective lapse. Prof. Yemi Osinbajo comes with a complete sense of stability and accountability in governance. One thing is clear throughout his public service career, Prof Osinbajo has sought to identify current and impending problems in society and propose solutions to them by way of public policy.
Osinbajo no doubt embodies the much yearned qualities which majority has been clamouring for and without sentiments holds the best credentials to lead the nation come 2023. While his credentials, antecedents and portfolio has been brought to the fore, it’s left to Nigerians to decide who leads them beyond 2023.
