Why I Pity The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (Part 2)
By Olusina Akeredolu
Whoever has studied the political history of Nigeria from day one of its creation would not be surprised at the way Buhari has behaved even as a civilian president so far. Whoever has read all the three parts of Yinka Odumakin’s essay: “Arewa songs of conquest” would not be surprised at Buhari and his pro-north political itinerary. Whoever has read my essay: “Why I pity the vice president-elect, Professor Yemi Osinbajo” would not be surprised at Buhari and his ethnic-oriented political and office appointments. Whoever has painstakingly followed and studied military politics in Nigeria would also not be surprised at the present Buhari agenda. Those that would be surprised at the tribal chauvinistic Buhari are the Tinubus, the Akandes, the Oyeguns and the other southerners who allegedly sank resources into choosing Buhari as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and for him to emerge as the winner of the March 28 presidential election in Nigeria.
It is a big surprise that some of us who have never been in politics at all could understand the ethno-political maneuvering in Nigeria than people like Bola Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande etc when it has to do with political rapports between the core Hausa Fulani of the north and the Yoruba of the southwest of Nigeria. Maybe, Tinubu and co knew what they were entering into but deliberately took the risk or they believed they were doing equity in their quest to salvage Nigeria and expected they would get equity in return in that marriage of convenience among strange political bedfellows in APC especially when Buhari is involved. I am not saying that the south should not mingle with the north as far as Nigerian politics is concerned, but that when the Yoruba wants to eat with the core north politically on the same table, he should do so with long spoon in his hand. The meaning of this is that, at the time what all sides had in the All Progressives Congress as a party were mere equitable interests, the Yoruba faction being led by Tinubu ought to have insisted in putting the sharing of the spoils of office on paper for all sides to sign it before going into the primary and the presidential elections. Not doing so before those elections was a grave and costly miscalculation by the Yoruba leadership in the APC.
Bola Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande and all the other political leaders who are for the time being, not in the mainstream Afenifere socio-cultural group of the Yoruba nation ought not to surreptitiously forget history. The travails of Chief Obafemi Awolowo arising from his attempt to operate politically at the center during the first republic led him and his lieutenants to prison. These same northerners used his own Yoruba brothers to deal ruthlessly with him. His experience at the time of Buhari’s military regime was nothing short of humiliation even though he endured those very rough treatments. The travails and the untimely death of Chief MKO Abiola in detention when he chose to rely and believe in a promise given by an element from the northern cabal; and the killing of Major General Aguiyi Ironsi with Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi on the Yoruba soil ought to serve as lessons for those who recently went into political alliance and merger with the core northern elements without cementing the rights and duties of each of the mergers.
No matter what anybody may say, people like Chief Ayo Adebanjo and his peers have been long enough in Nigerian political terrain to qualify them to suo motu know the consequences of any political step or calculation in Nigeria. They were the ones who went to prison with Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the 60s and they have consistently held onto Papa’s philosophy and principles of life since that time till today. They have never been extraordinarily rich all their lives and they are contented with it. They might have chosen to sum all they had gone through politically, in decades, together with their opinion regarding the Hausa Fulani and used same as their reasons for supporting Goodluck Jonathan up to March 28, 2015 when the presidential election was held. Maybe they still have some other reasons for doing so.
But as I rightly predicted in my first essay on this topic, President Buhari has dealt with Tinubu terribly by showing him that he is the one in charge of his government from the 29th of May, 2015. Well, in actual fact, Buhari will be solely answerable to whatever happens during his tenure. Buhari has partly shown Obasanjo, his limit too, by not accepting the candidate he reportedly suggested as ministerial nominee for Ogun state. In its reports of 5th October, 2015, New Telegraph newspaper stated that El-Rufai’s group was said to have impressed it on the president the need to cut Tinubu to size before he takes over the government. The same newspaper quoted Senator Okurounmu as saying that his prediction had come to pass that Tinubu would be humiliated by Buhari. Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo was reported to have also told the paper that he was not surprised with Buhari’s approach to governance and that he knew before hand that Buhari cannot change.
The question now remains. What concerns the Nigerian Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo in all these and why the pity? Remember that the Vice President was not a politician. The innocent and quiet guy was never there with them during the criss-crossing of merger of political parties that now form the All Progressives Congress, APC. Osinbajo came into the equation when he was dragged into APC by Tinubu as Vice Presidential candidate after Muhammadu Buhari had emerged as the presidential candidate of the APC. Tinubu chose Osinbajo because of Osinbajo’s political non-ambition; because of his straightforwardness, his honesty, his gentleness, his non-cunningness, his non-betrayal and non-manipulative tendencies. Osinbajo will never say ‘to hell with you Tinubu’ and that is why they call him Tinubu’s protégé. In other word, Osinbajo and Tinubu are politically one person in the present political dispensation. Any hatred for Tinubu is hatred for Osinbajo and any suspicion for Tinubu is also a suspicion for him. New Telegraph newspaper reported that Buhari did not accept any ministerial suggestion by either Tinubu or Osinbajo as his nominee and that says it all. Osinbajo is just there as an errand boy.
The school cert holder Hausa Fulani politician is more astute than the Yoruba Masters degree holder propagandist and noise maker when it comes to political strategies. That is why the Hausa Fulani will never lose out in the geographical expression called Nigeria. With all the Yoruba and the other southerners’ preparations to restructure Nigeria into 6 regions through the 2014 national conference for the benefit of the hoi polloi, the northerners defeated the idea because it will not favour the north where a state of Kano or Kaduna will have 46 local government councils against Lagos 20 councils with its huge population. In my earlier essay, I wrote that the northern hegemonists were only waiting for May 29 to prove their mettle and they have justified my reasoning and reasons to pity the ‘omo olomo’ Yemi Osinbajo, the petit figured Vice President.
Bola Tinubu must be realizing now that his faction of the Yoruba nation cannot face the northern oligarchy alone and succeed. The Yoruba nation, home and in diaspora must come together as one for that purpose and so on. The Afenifere shouted aloud but Tinubu and co will not listen. For the unity of Yoruba nation, Tinubu must once pocket his arrogance and show respect for the Yoruba elders who easily saw what he could not see. Nevertheless, it is only time that will tell whether Tinubu’s ‘ori kunkun’ to team up with the Hausa Fulani to seize the Nigerian presidency is in the overall interest of Nigeria regardless of the lopsidedness in Buhari appointments.
If you miss my first essay on this topic, please read it from the link below:
Men like Olusina Akeredolu should be transported to the days of Lord Lugard. He with his Afenifere members can have a good chance of building their tribal kingdom in the entire south west. He doesn’t belong to 21st-century Nigeria; bunch of retrogressives.
What a load of bigoted trash!
Na these kin tribalists, no dey let Nigeria progress.
Why is this writer so tribe and region focused in his discussion
Why is he using these worn out stereotypes to describe Nigerians in this 21st internet century.
GMB is the head of this government and the “buck” stops at his desk.
Let him import ministers from Mecca for crying out loud.
Nigerians should focus on defining what are the benefits of democracy for themselves.
Then, make una open una korokoro eyes to make sure say anybody no “pull wool over una eye”.
If you are not getting wetin you expect, you have the right to cry out. Democracy is a game of numbers. If una plenty reach, una no even need to wait for 4 yrs. Una fit gather unaselves together and terminate the govt kwanu!
Wetin you cannot do, na to judge the “masquerade before e begin dance”.
GMB has just nominated his team. Nigeria belongs to us Nigerians. We must act as custodians of Nigeria. We cannot conclude that a minister is not good before we see the minister in action.