- Osinbajo: Why he’s the best man for 2023 presidency – Nigerians Ask for Osinbajo Group
Professor Yemi Osinbajo is by all standard a legal luminary , Law Professor and a staunch believer in due process, rule of law and the sanctity of fundamental human rights.
By inclination,he is a teacher, listening to the depth of his thoughts and intellectual profundity of his delivery will easily bear the teacher in him out.
It is therefore not surprising when the foremost of the groups canvassing for Osinbajo’s candidacy in the 2023 presidential election, Nigerians Ask for Osinbajo led by Engr. Kolawole Adepoju launched a massive campaign in the rural North Central part of Nigeria last week; there was warm reception.
At Takete Ide, an important town in Mopa- Muro LGA of Kogi State, Chief Samuel Obadofin, the Obadofin of Takete told Engr. Adepoju that ” Osinbajo’s achievements in all his public career, and his loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari are a loud testament to the fact that he is a honest leader the kind we need to lead us in consolidating on the gains of the current administration.”
“Politics may not be something that comes to him as neither first nor second choice, but in all his public posture as either Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos or as vice president; his values are clear- social justice, progress, peace, mutual coexistence and firm belief in the possibility of the Nigerian project”, says professor Adeagbo Moritiwon, a political scientist in an interview with Business Hallmark.
“This is not to say that Osinbajo is infallible, no ,he is like all of us full of foibles, but the foibles he shares with us are all too human, such that are common to all of us.
You can not charge him with politicking in the sense in many politicians do, I think I will call him a law technocrat in government, trying to do the right thing without any hints of tribalism or ego associated with the primordial sentiment. That’s about the finest thing about him”, professor Moritiwon concluded.
When he was appointed Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice by Tinubu in June 1999, the legal system that subsisted in Lagos was dripping with all manner of issues from corruption to delay in justice dispensation, laxity ,all pointing to a need for reform, and as head of reform committee set up by Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the then governor of Lagos, he and his committee did the best ,as they turned around the justice system that today is a model and reference point.
A legal perfectionist, following on in his capacity as Attorney General of Lagos ,
Osinbajo initiated and championed the reforming of the entire judiciary which has today led to
significant reduction in the backlog of cases in the High Court, made possible the hitherto lacking
accessibility of the legal system to the wider population.
One of the high points of his reform is reduction in the average delays and duration of commercial cases before
the civil courts, and near stoppage of
corruption and inefficiency within the system.
The specific nature which his timely interventions took could be seen in among other things, the access to justice programs as
five free Citizen
Mediation Centres set up in Lagos “as an alternative dispute
resolution mechanism, appointment of 26 judges from varied backgrounds to the High, and the bringing of
the number of judges to 50; while reducing the average
age of judges from 55 to 44.
It was on record that he made significant efforts to improve
the recruitment process of judicial officers,
formation of a committee to oversee the rewriting of the court rules
and monitor strict adherence to said rules.
He also set up the Court Automation Information System (CAIS).
During the Obasanjo’s government’s face-off with the Tinubu administration over the creation of local governments, which the then presidency queried, Prof. Osinbajo argued that the President
had no right to withhold the payment of funds due to the Local
Government Councils from the Federation Account under Section 162
subsection (5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.
Suffice to say the Osinbajo-led legal team won the case against
the Federal Government, but Obasanjo still went ahead to withhold the
State’s Local Government monthly allocations.
In the landmark case at the Supreme Court, the Judges were unanimous in
their submissions that the Federal Government’s continuous withholding
of the State’s Local Government allocation over its compliance with
Section 8(4) of the 1999 Constitution was illegal and not in the spirit of
true federalism.
As vice president, ” Osinbajo has displayed rare loyalty to his boss, president Muhammadu Buhari, and his conduct as vice president has the insignia of a national outlook, as he’s easily at home in every part of the country, whether in the palace of a northern Emir or somewhere in the eastern or south southern part of the country, making friends across the divides.
” I’m yet to see a vice president who has shown such loyalty to his boss as Osinbajo’s, he has the same taciturnity as Buhari’s and believes in quietly making his mark did the good of the country”, says Engr.Adepoju in his chat with Business Hallmark.
It is widely believed that a testament to president Muhammadu Buhari’s confidence in him inspired his choice of him to chair the sensitive National Economic Council and placing him at the head of the various social investments Programmes of the administration.
Without any doubts, regardless of whatever criticism that may have been levelled against the impact of these social interventions policies, the social investments Programmes have made a modest impact.
As acting president in 2018, he conducted himself well, and he it was that first ordered the disbanding of SARS when Ahmed Idris was inspector general, a move that eventually came to fruition following #Endsars protests in October 2020.
Osinbajo may have represented a new breed of leadership much desired in the country, but as ” professor Ahmed Mohammed told this medium ” being a good man effective is not enough to redress the various ills in the society, if he eventually declares and Nigerians find him worthy to be elected, he may need to be more firm and determined , gauge the mood of every part of the country, and consult widely across the geopolitical zones so that the aggregate of these various tendencies and their formula for resolving the crisis of development bedeviling the country can be taken.”
It was the National Economic Council Osinbajo chaired that made far-reaching recommendations ti president Buhari on his to stem to the farmer’s/herder’s clashes
It is on record that for decades, food crop farmers have been plagued by the encroachment
of their farms by cattle herders, whose animals destroy their crops as a
result of their open grazing method. The destruction of crops has led to
several clashes between the herders and the farmers in some parts of
Nigeria and has resulted in the deaths of many. Efforts made by farmers
to discourage open grazing have led to multiple face-offs with herders
and had shown no sign of stopping the problem. This meant that only
government intervention could stop the menace of open grazing in the
country.
The various commendable efforts made by the current administration have been the recommendations of the Osinbajo-led NEC.
As many groups have been calling on the vice president to run for the office of president come 2023, time will tell whether he will heed these clarion calls.
Although his profile has risen lately,as he’s becoming more visible in the polity, the most recent was being the Guest of Honour at the prestigious Ahmadu Bello Lecture. The mere fact that he was chosen as Guest of Honour, shows that the taciturn vice president is being noticed in important quarters. His gait is gradually becoming presidential, and like his boss, president Buhari, he’s a gentleman of nobility.
Adebayo Obajemu – Nigerians Ask for Osinbajo
