Buhari’s Running Mate: Drama Behind Osinbajo’s Choice By Our Correspondents — Dec 18, 2014 | 0 Comments Though there has been media frenzy over who becomes the running mate to the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday’s nomination of the former Lagos State attorney-general and commissioner for justice, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), came as something of an anti-climax. LEADERSHIP had exclusively reported on its Friday edition of December 12, 2014, that Buhari would pick Osinbajo as his running mate. But the manner the information of his nomination was conveyed to Osinbajo appears to be different from the usual. After series of nocturnal meetings among the chieftains of the party in the last 72 hours, the party leadership resolved to send a chartered aircraft to bring Osinbajo from Lagos. When the party informed him of his nomination and asked for his whereabouts in Lagos in order to fly him to Abuja, he replied that was already in Abuja at the Supreme Court where he was appearing in a landmark case. He, thereafter, came to the secretariat where he held a prolonged meeting with Buhari. The development was said to be responsible for the delay in unveiling him to the public as Buhari himself disclosed this in his speech. Osinbajo’s emergence from among other prominent members of the party was the outcome of dramatic scheming, high-wire politics and horse trading. A reliable source close to the arrowheads of the party confided in LEADERSHIP last night that Osinbajo’s selection caught the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, by surprise. Tinubu himself was said to be interested in the post and had insisted that he was eminently qualified for it. The development must have been responsible for the series of meetings in Lagos and Abuja and the long delay in choosing a number two candidate for the APC. According to the source, who sought anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, Tinubu did not know that Osinbajo would emerge as the running mate to Buhari. He said, “I can authoritatively tell you that the emergence of Osinbajo is not an easy task. This is because a lot of issues, interests and other national issues were considered, apart from politics. Tinubu himself did not know that Osinbajo’s name was on the list until this morning ( yesterday). “I also wish to inform you that the situation got to a point that a top retired general from the south west had to call Buhari and blast him over why he allowed himself to be tossed about in choosing his running mate. The general further asked Buhari to make up his mind on a credible candidate and announce his name without further delay. “Don’t forget that Tinubu has said that it is only one name that the south west is presenting (that is himself) and that Buhari cannot change the name.” The source added that when Buhari visited Tinubu for further consultations on the issue of the nominee from the south west, Tinubu was said to have refused to see off the former head of state as courtesy demands as a result of the contentious issue as the two of them could not agree on the matter. The development was said to have devastated Tinubu while Buhari thereafter decided to choose Osinbajo and unveil him to the public at about 4:23pm at the party secretariat in Abuja. The nominee, a senior pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), was acceptable to Buhari because of his outstanding credibility. Incidentally, Osinbajo’s name also came up in 2011 during the merger of the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Speaking on why he preferred Osinbajo, Buhari said he was certain that the professor and former Lagos AG will be of great assist in the mission to rescue Nigeria because of what he called his unimpeachable integrity. The choice of Buhari running-mate was delayed for six days after he was elected as APC presidential candidate in Lagos last week. While presenting his running-mate at the national secretariat of the party yesterday in Abuja, Buhari said: “I have chosen a man of unimpeachable integrity, an excellent professional, a man of faith, a devoted family man and a role model to our fellow countrymen and women. He is a professor of law and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, aAn alumnus of the University of Lagos and the London School of Economics. “He is a prodigious author who has to his credit several books on civil procedure in Nigerian superior courts. “The vice-presidential candidate is a friend of the less privileged, compassionate and zealous in service. A man of uncommon humility, a loyal, dependable and selfless patriot. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, who by the grace of God, and the vote of Nigerians, will be the next vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” The APC presidential candidate admitted that the method employed in the choice was quite meticulous but rigorous: “It involved the establishment of objective criteria, broad consultations with party leaders and a few opinion leaders outside the party and interactions with a number of nominees.” In his acceptance speech, Osibanjo said he was honoured to have been nominated as the vice-presidential candidate of the APC and especially the presidential candidate to Buhari. He said: “The task of rebuilding this nation is one to which I am fully committed. There can be no other president, leader and commander that can lead that common sense revolution Nigeria urgently needs than General Muhammadu Buhari. I will proudly serve this country with him. “General Buhari’s uprightness and fierce commitment to good governance is well known. It will be a privilege to work with him. I come to this assignment with lots of hope and a resolve to be a part of this movement to bring Nigeria back to its lost glory. With the support of all Nigerians and the help of God, we shall make Nigeria work again.” It is also instructive to note that Buhari had presented Osinbajo to journalists before his ratification by the NWC of the party, but he later apologised for the mix-up. Certain individuals had been touted as possible running mate to Buhari. They were state governors: Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), former Ekiti State governor Kayode Fayemi and former Osun State governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola Osinbajo, a passionate and dedicated administrator For those that know Professor Oluyemi Oluleke Osinbajo (SAN), one thing that they cannot stop talking about is his passion and dedication to duty. Professor Osinbajo is an erudite scholar whose successes during his eight years as the attorney-general and commissioner for Justice in Lagos State between 1999 and 2007 are still visible today. One could rightly state that although he became the attorney-general by accident – as he was not a politician, he contributed more to the success recorded by that administration than any other person, as attested to by former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, in an interview he granted shorty after they left office. “Appointing Osinbajo as my attorney- general was the wisest decision I ever made in my life. I am proud to be a successful governor but Osinbajo’s story is part of my success. The best thing for a government that wants to succeed is to first get for itself a good attorney-general. I did not know Yemi personally because I was not a lawyer. I knew him in the chambers of Prince Bola Ajibola, SAN. He is not just a legal luminary; he is wholesome, committed and a brilliant human being. Yemi is instrumental to some of the wise decisions my administration made in its eight years of service,” said Tinubu. …His legal reforms in Lagos As attorney-general, Osinbajo introduced many reforms in the justice administration sector, part of which was repositioning the ministry of justice from a government lawyers’ agency – which it was under the military, to that of a citizen-focused department of justice. This he did by establishing policies and programmes which promoted access to justice, especially for the poor and the needy. It was during his tenure that the state established the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) and Citizens Medication Centre. The OPD provided free legal services to those who could not afford the cost of legal representation. Through the agency, many people incarcerated for a long period of time without charges or those arrested illegally by the police have breathed the air of freedom. The Citizen Mediation Centre, on its part, has become the abode for many people to resolve civil disputes without recourse to the law courts. Osinbajo as attorney-general also oversaw the elevation of the judiciary in the state. It was during his tenure that Lagos became the reference point in terms of remuneration and good working condition for the judicial arm of government with the introduction of a wide range reforms in the welfare of judges and magistrates as well as provision and upgrading of infrastructure for courts. It was to his credit that many of the reforms he initiated in Lagos State such as Office of the Public Defender and increment of judges’ salary, among others, are being replicated in many states of the federation today. His eight-year tenure was characterized by constant conflict between former governor Bola Tinubu and the federal government, headed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Some of these disagreements bordered on constitutionalism, federalism and the rule of law. …His involvement in landmark cases Some of the landmark cases that he handled which has also changed the legal landscape of Nigeria include: fiscal dispute between the federating units and the federal government; disputes regarding the ownership and control of oil and gas resources; town and physical planning disputes between the federating units and the federal government. There were also such cases like regulation of lottery business. The dispute over creation of additional local government, withholding of Lagos State’s federal allocation, state tax and telecom operations among others. Some of the cases he handled in his private practice include: an international territorial jurisdictional dispute in the West African sub-regional court; shareholder disputes involving a multinational, private investors and state-owned investment corporations and energy disputes arising from multinational participation in power projects in Nigeria. He was also the counsel to former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Malam Lamido Sanusi, during the latters’ faceoff with the federal government. In other cases, Osinbajo has advised and represented clients in a broad range of commercial and corporate issues, including securities litigation, investments and divestments, joint ventures, oil block acquisitions, product liability, fiduciary duties of directors, intellectual property, and corporate valuations. He is also involved in statutory and regulatory appraisal representation before the legislature and federal and state agencies. He currently supervises the commercial litigation group at SimmonsCooper Partners (SCP), a leading commercial litigation and corporate commercial firm in Nigeria. With a multi-jurisdictional competence spanning Nigeria, the United States and the United Kingdom, SCP provides a very comprehensive and integrated range of litigation, transactional, advisory and several support services to a vast array of clients. Osinbajo was born on March 8, 1957, and obtained his Master of Law in 1980 from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He was educated as Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos, from 1969 to 1975 where he won African Statesman Intercollegiate Best Speaker’s Prize (1974); School Prize for Literature (HSC) 1975; Elias Prize for Best Performance in History (WASC) – 1973; Adeola Prize for English Oratory from 1972 to 1975, and School Prize for English Oratory, 1971 and 1972. He was in the University of Lagos between 1975 and 1978, where he obtained LLB with Second Class Upper Honours and was also the winner of State Merit Award before he proceeded to the Nigerian Law School. He also won the Graham-Douglas Prize for Commercial Law. His working experience started in the defunct Bendel State as a Youth Corps member between 1979 and 1980 when he was the Legal Officer, Bendel Development and Planning Authority. He was a partner in the law firm of Osinbajo, Kukoyi & Adokpaye and is currently a Senior Partner with Simmons Cooper Partners (Barristers and Solicitors). His international experience saw him working with the United Nations as member of the UN secretary general’s Committee of Experts on Conduct and Discipline of UN Peacekeeping Personnel around the world (2006) and Staff member, Justice Division of the UN Operations in Somalia (UNOSOM 11). He is currently an Ethics Advisor to the Ethics Committee of the African Development Bank (ADB) and is a non- executive director of Citibank. Osinbajo is co-founder and board member, Convention on Business Integrity and the Justice Research Institute Ltd. In 2007, Prof. and his wife Oludolapo founded ‘The Orderly Society Trust’, a non- governmental organization dedicated to the promotion of Christian ethics and orderliness”. “Professor Osinbajo has authored, co- authored and edited several books and publications, including, The Unification and Reform of the Nigerian Criminal Law and Procedure Codes ; Law Development and Administration; The Annotated Civil Procedure Rules of the Superior Courts in Nigeria and Cross Examination: A Trial Lawyer’s Most Potent Weapon. Osinbajo is a member of many professional bodies, including but not limited to, the Body of Benchers, Council of Legal Education, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, International Criminal Court, Arusha, Nigerian Bar Association; ECOWAS Eminent Persons Group for the Harmonization of Commercial Laws of ECOWAS States. He has to his credit about 17 awards to date. The awards cut across the spectrum of society, from government to the bar and the religious sect. Professor Osinbajo also doubles as a senior pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. He is married to Dolapo Osinbajo and they are blessed with children. Osinbajo and APC pastoral permutation If the APC wanted to show its clairvoyance in the nation’s political terrain, it got it right with the choice of Osinbajo, a senior pastor at the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). Osinbajo rates as one of the richest pastors in the country. Though he rarely exudes affluence, he is currently a pastor at Olive Tree House of Prayer for All Nations, Banana Island, a parish of the RCCG. The RCCG has 14,000 branches in Nigeria and outposts in 110 countries. The church has an estimated membership population of five million s in Nigeria alone. Thus, as the country is now polarized along religious lines, observers submit that the choice of Osinbajo is a deft political calculation that will crush the religious card being played by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). As a highly revered pastor in RCCG, he stands the chance of raking in the RCCG five million votes, with Christian sympathizers across the country aligning in that direction to clinch the number two position in the country if eventually APC wrests power from the ruling PDP in the 2015 general election at the national level. Pastor Bukola Johnson, a pastor with the RCCG, said,” Osinbajo is a man of integrity. His pairing with General Muhammadu Buhari will save the country from the quagmire of corruption it found itself. Right now, Nigerians are longing for leaders that have integrity that would liberate them from the mess of under-development that corruption has plunged the country.” At a forum held at the Covenant University Canaan Land, Ota, Osinbajo showed a level of understanding of the current situation in the country and the need to tackle the scourge. He said: “In the military, the rank and file are convinced, and perhaps rightly, that funds meant for their operational convenience and welfare are simply embezzled by their superiors. The scandal surrounding the battle readiness or un- readiness of soldiers fighting the terrible Boko Haram insurgency in the north east is a case in point. “The newspapers recently reported a mutiny of troops deployed to fight the insurgency, apparently over these issues. It is incredible indeed that with a security budget of over N1.3 trillion naira – almost a quarter of the entire federal budget, there can still be complaints that national troops are not as well equipped as the insurgents.” “No matter how much assistance the insurgents are getting, it cannot come anywhere near the federal budget, the question is where is the money? The truth is that in the “corrupted society”, corruption and embezzlement come before the safety and well-being of the citizens, or territorial integrity of the nation. The corrupted society is self-immolating.” He remarked that very few will deny that the perception of Nigeria and Nigerians as a place and a people with whom integrity and trustworthiness are in short supply, saying such perception affects all aspects of the people’s life. According to him, “It affects local and international investment decisions. The frequent issue is how to find the Nigerian of integrity to do business with. The thousands of so called 419 e-mails which emanate daily from Nigeria and the huge daily scandals of official corruption conduce to this perception of Nigerians as frauds. “Certificates and other documentation emanating from Nigeria today come under close scrutiny at home and abroad. Obtaining practically any kind of fake documentation, whether degree certificates or diplomas , bank statements or licences, is so commonplace that most institutions now devote considerable resources to verifying documents presented to them. “The culture of cheating and pilfering is so widespread that this has become a major disincentive to establishing small businesses, especially retail ones which may require assistants and sales persons. Businesses where the owners are not hands–on almost always suffer the same fate; eventually staff pilfering and cheating will destroy the business.” Osinbajo pointed out that the solution to most national crises must begin with an elite consensus to deal with the issue. He said, “The Nigerian elite, constituting political, business, academic, religious actors, must decide that the nation’s core values must be repaired. The elite must accept, regardless of political, religious, or ethnic affiliations, that a corrupted society has no future and it already contains the seed of its own destruction.” Nda-Isaiah congratulates Buhari, Osinbajo A former presidential aspirant of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Mr Sam Nda- Isaiah, has sent a congratulatory message to the presidential candidate of the party, Gen Muhammadu Buhari and his running mate, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, who emerged as the flag-bearers of the opposition party in her last party primaries. Nda-Isaiah, Founder of the LEADERSHIP Newspaper Group, gave the message in a statement made available yesterday to LEADERSHIP in which he said the nomination of Osinbajo coincided with the 72 birthday of Buhari who he said, has served the country selflessly. “I wish to congratulate General Muhammadu Buhari who emerged as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, at the party’s 3rd convention and his running mate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN). “It is noteworthy that the announcement of Osinbajo, a distinguished professor of law and a man of strong integrity as running mate, is coinciding with the 72 birthday of General Buhari who has served this country selflessly. “I am confident that the candidates will lead the APC to victory in the forthcoming elections and pledge my support to this cause,” he said. Nda-Isaiah expressed gratitude to his family, campaign team, supporters, friends and well-wishers for their support and prayers and support, which he said, brought the party this far. Why I declined VP ticket – Tinubu As the APC finally settled for Professor Osinbajo as the vice-presidential running mate, the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said he declined the position offered to him by Buhari because of his love for Nigerians and their yearnings. In a press statement issued yesterday and personally signed by Tinubu, he said he stepped aside to give way to Osinbajo’s candidacy, noting that winning the election in 2015 was more paramount. He said, “I am a Nigerian who loves his country and I am hopeful about what it can become. I have seen and conducted myself as a patriot long before I thought of myself as a politician. I shall always walk this line and no other. The former governor of Lagos State added that having participated in the engineering of the APC to what it is today and its readiness to win the coming elections, the success of the party is more important to him than becoming the vice-president. According to him, “Nothing is more important to me than to realize this dream, not for myself but for the people of this land I so love…I helped to build this party, giving no thought to seeking an elected office because of it. My contribution to the party was never based on the expectation of a later political handout. Nigeria is in trouble and we are well past the moment for such narrow, selfish games.” Tinubu disclosed that the party’s presidential candidate offered him the vice- presidential ticket, but he said he dropped the idea having weighed his ‘potential candidacy in all of its dimensions”. He was referring to the distracting campaign of calumny against him that suddenly sprouted when he was being tipped to be the running mate to Buhari and the issue of his faith as a Muslim. “I have concluded that the interests of the party, our campaign and of the nation are better served if I retain my position as the national leader of the APC, allowing me to be a bridge builder across all divides. Although, I declined the position, I want to thank General Buhari for extending the honour to me. “Despite all the noise and opposition around my possible selection, he stood firm and steadfast. He showed the traits of a leader in holding to a decision he believed was right despite the errant plots against it.” Tinubu appealed to fellow Nigerians not to be swayed by those he called the cynical politicians lusting after power, who set brother against brother and neighbour against neighbour. “Those who exploit religion should be wary. For there really is a God and he does not like it when you play with his people or use His name to do the opposite of what He intends. “I ask the people to remove religion from the electoral equation now that the tickets of both parties are mixed. I ask you to select the ticket best able to end the downward slide that Nigeria has endured since this government took over. I ask you to remember that too many Christians and Muslims are poor. Most of all, I ask you to remember that the true religion of the PDP is poverty, APC came to bring prosperity to the people. Please vote for that.” Saraki hails emergence of Osinbajo, applauds Tinubu’s role For his part, the chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Dr Bukola Saraki, has congratulated Osinbajo on his emergence as the vice presidential candidate of the APC. Saraki said the emergence Osinbajo, a committed pastor of unquestionable integrity from the south west, further attests to the commitment of the APC to fairness and equality. He commended the APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the sacrifice and contribution to the development of APC and democracy in Nigeria. I was arm-twisted over primaries – Oyegun Meanwhile, the APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, yesterday revealed that there were pressures on the leadership of the party by some forces within and without to compel some presidential aspirants to withdraw from the race. Oyegun made this disclosure while receiving the report of the third APC National Convention from its chairman, Dr Kayode Fayemi. “So many efforts were made to get me to call the aspirants together and arm twist them into stepping down for each other and I resisted it and said ‘no, we are going to organise a transparent convention so that whoever win will have no excuse in the world.’ Speaking further, he went further to congratulate the panel and assure them of more roles in the nearest future. PDP lampoons Buhari over belated choice of running mate However, the ruling PDP has described the belated choice of Osinbajo by Buhari as his running mate after six days of his emergence as the height of incompetence. The PDP further claimed that the eventual choice of Osinbajo is a confirmation of its stand that the APC is the personal project of a cabal commanded by former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, to expand its political and economic frontiers. The ruling party, in a statement signed by its national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, yesterday, said: “Should power get to this cabal, who is desperate to control the political and economic power centre of the nation, then Nigeria is finished.” “By the choice of Osinbajo, a well-known acolyte of Tinubu, who served under him as attorney-general and commissioner for justice, the APC, General Buhari and Tinubu have boldly recreated their well-known notoriety for sectional and personal interests. “It is particularly worrisome that General Buhari has surrendered his first official responsibility of choosing a running mate, invariably his powers, to Tinubu even before he goes to the field to ask for votes.”
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 05:14:05 +0000
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