Perceptions 2023: Requiem to the President of our Dream

femi Akintunde-Johnson

Unlike our Lord Jesus Christ who selected his 12 disciples with uncommon wisdom, and only Judas Iscariot was the sore thumb…our list of 12 probable presidential gladiators may have more than one Iscariot. We are sadly saddled with recycled leaders who have serially and methodically betrayed and frustrated the hopes and aspirations of millions of Nigerians for many decades, while parroting cliches such as public service, patriotism, welfarism, equitable share of resources, federal character, democratic dividends, and such nonsense.

  Today marked the end of the Perceptions 2023 series which began on this page two months ago (January 15, 2022), and trailed eleven individuals considered noteworthy in their seeming aspirations to be the next occupant of Aso Rock Villa. In eight editions prior to this, we chronicled the perceptive nuances of the following people, in order of publication: 

Rochas Okorocha, Bukola Saraki, Kayode Fayemi, Kingsley Moghalu, Nyesom Wike, Yahaya Bello, Aminu Tambuwal, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Bola Tinubu, Peter Obi, and Atiku Abubakar.

  Of course, there are a couple of names that their non-inclusion in these perceptions would raise eyebrows among the uninitiated. It is proper to recuse ourselves from interrogating their ambitions on account of our personal relationships – as either positive or negative submissions would arguably be considered as dubious and untenable, and capped with a shrug of “what else do you expect?” 

  Here is our twelfth and last serious person of interest as far as the 2023 presidential election is concerned. Of course, he would swear confidently and convincingly that he has not told anyone he is contesting, especially as it will bring him, at this point in time, in direct collision with the ultimate desire of his benefactor and political leader. It is as it should be expected. 

  However, we are not moved by sophistry, nor the affectation of humility and responsible subjugation of an otherwise bright prospect, and a clearly more attractive ticket, to neutrals…on the altar of queuing behind someone else’s lifelong ambition, which by a combination of mishandling, hubris, strategic manipulation, and other factors, have tied on it the potential to suffocate, and be trampled, before it reaches the finishing line…if that is possible. But we run ahead of ourselves.

PERCEPTIONS 2023: YEMI OSINBAJO

Heavily fortified academically – what else do you expect from a professor of law with a litany of scholarship awards, academic laurels, and oratorical accolades, right from his secondary school, Igbobi College, Lagos, as far back as 1971?

  After 22 years learning, teaching and advising law in diverse ramifications, Oluyemi Oluleke Osinbajo, SAN, GCON, became a professor of law at 40 (1997) at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) – two years before he was headhunted to become Lagos’ first Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the Fourth Republic. He served two terms in Bola Tinubu’s administration before he returned to UNILAG’s Faculty of Law as Public Law lecturer.

  Osinbajo was seemingly enjoying the grace of pastoring the highbrow parish of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) on Banana Island Road, Ikoyi (the Olive Tree Mission) when he was first drafted, in 2014, to work, alongside others, on the directive programme of actions for the new political party, All Progressives Congress, APC. And the “Roadmap to a New Nigeria” was crafted, which became the party’s manifesto.

  Dubbed the “Star Boy” by alluring supporters, Osinbajo should more appropriately be tagged “Lucky Boy” – for by the end of the same 2014, he had moved, in bizarre circumstances, from a man whose intellectual acumen was needed to hone a vital document, to one whose personality was germane to mitigating the toxic perception of the polarising flag bearer of APC in the southern part of Nigeria.

  The Ikenne-rooted, Lagos-born and bred part-time politician and academician became the running mate, and subsequently, the loyal Vice President to former army general, farmer and incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari…now in the twilight of their second term in office.

  On few occasions during the turbulent first term of the Buhari-Osinbajo administration, Providence and poorly kept presidential ailment prodded Osinbajo to step up as a substantive president, in acting capacity – at least, on those rare occasions when the president “remembered” to send a ‘hand-over’ note to the National Assembly. His swift actions and “body-language” during those fleeting moments endeared him to some, and triggered alarm bells in others.

  One of his constitutional duties as VP, with anything resembling executive function, is to superintend the National Economic Council, and advise the president on effective recommendations to steer the country into prosperous waters. The jury is still out on the efficacy or otherwise of that team of economic experts, and its supervisor. 

  But is Osinbajo ever going to bite the finger that fed him? Would he have the spunk to paddle his own canoe, especially as he is much better positioned and advantaged, to strike the iron while piping hot? Though many of those who are ferocious supporters of his godfather are tenderized by his sterling qualities: commitment, loyalty, calmness, erudition and other virtues…they are somewhat alarmed at the creeping campaigns to hoist the image of Osinbajo as a more capable, tested, unifying, non-threatening, and easier-to-swallow alternative – not to mention he is younger, well-positioned and not unduly weighed down by negative baggage.

  It is remarkably strategic and evident of his maturity and growing astuteness in the cloak-and-dagger side of politics that a sweeping, well-coordinated, prod-the-barrel, underground campaign is going apace, on his behalf, and yet, he sweetly appears above and beyond the fray – to the consternation of party faithfuls whose allegiances are being tested by the probability of an Osinbajo entry into the presidential race while his mentor is actively traversing the country scouting for endorsements and reassurances.

  However, in a more enlightened and vigorously accountable political environment, Osibajo would have a herculean task, despite his undoubted personal accomplishments, industry, vitality and cosmopolitan nature, to convince Nigerians that he would perform much better than his boss. He was a strong member of an administration largely dismissed as effete in dealing with critical issues of securing the nation, uplifting the economic conditions of the majority of its people, and equipping Nigerians with tools, dividends and tangible results that will invoke in our people a sense of positive movement and hope of a better tomorrow. 

  Of course, the administration he is a co-pilot in has made tremendous progress in expanding the infrastructural frameworks of the country, a lot of efforts have been expended in increasing transport networks, expanding the provision of food crops and infusion of short-term interventions to stem nationwide poverty from spiraling out of control.

  Yet, the problems and anguish of Nigerians seem to escalate and metamorphose into levels never before experienced: in health care, security of lives and property, economic conditions, educational systems, provision of services and amenities, ease of doing business, and many other challenges admittedly common with a developing nation.

  In spite of Yemi Osinbajo’s glowing attributes, and compelling characteristics, especially evident in the brief moments he was allowed to actually act for his principal during few of the several absences, Osinbajo would have a hard time in assuring Nigerians he would be a breath of fresh air, and a strong conduit of hope and positivity for the hardworking and honest throng of his country people. We wait….