Re: My Take on Yemi Osinbajo’s Declaration by Reno Omokri
Editor's note: Mayowa Olaniyan, a researcher and political analyst, in this rebuttal, counters Reno Omokri's take on Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo's recent 2023 presidential declaration, arguing that the former presidential aide is still pained that his boss, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, lost the 2015 presidential election.
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Going through the declaration speech of Nigeria's vice president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, what is evident was footage of a man who is sincere and convinced in what he intends to do as the president of the most populous Black nation.
Osinbajo's declaration speech was yet another testimony to his immeasurable loyalty to the Nigerian people.
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So, for one Reno Omokri to now say that Osinbajo's speech, applauded both in the local and foreign media was "watery and baseless," is nothing but a classic case of someone suffering from schizophrenia, that is, a defect characterized by distortions of reality and disturbances of thought and language and withdrawal from social contact.
Omokri has lost touch with reality as far as the progress in Nigeria is concerned. For almost seven years now, he has consistently mourned and cried the inglorious exit of his boss, former President Goodluck Jonathan, and co from office over their abysmal failure in power, and as such, he must play down every good thing done under the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
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Truth be told, Reno's ridiculous piece of his appraisal of Osinbajo's declaration shows he is already withdrawn from reality.
1. Are there humongous tasks for Osinbajo to complete as president after diligently serving Nigeria under his boss? The answer is yes. There is a task of building on the massive infrastructural revolution that has begun in 2015. The task of radically transforming the security and intelligence architecture; the task of completing the reform of our justice system and improve on the welfare of judicial personnel, the task of providing an excellent environment for businesses to thrive; the task of taking the agricultural revolution to the next level, and a lot more.
Osinbajo's speech invokes a sense of direction that focuses on continuity by proliferating the achievements of this administration while addressing many of its infirmities.
2. On whether the VP has the amplitude to provide jobs. VP Osinbajo is more than capable. As a vice president, in his current office, he is the face of Africa’s largest National Social Investment Programme (NSIP). Nigeria'sn government, in 2016, established the NSIP, to tackle poverty and hunger across the country, focusing on ensuring a more equitable distribution of resources to vulnerable populations, including children, youth, and women.
Representing the federal government, the NSIP initiative under Osinbajo’s supervision created more than 800,000 jobs for the Nigerian youths through the NPower scheme. The NPower programme received lots of global accolades from various development institutions, while the same can also be said of the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) which has provided over 300,000 direct and Indirect jobs. These are the testimonies of a novel programme that is the brainchild of a man of great intellect and capacity.
3. Nigeria Economic Council (NEC) and the Economic Management Team under the chairmanship of Professor Osinbajo brought Nigeria out of recession twice. Nigeria under Osinbajo’s chairmanship of NEC, EMT, and ESC have recorded an average of 2.9% economic growth even when faced with the heat of a pandemic and perennial crisis of low oil prices in the international market.
4. Reno Omokri, in the fourth paragraph of his hogwash, claims Nigeria is the third least secured country after Iraq and Afghanistan. That remains a lie that can be traced to a person like Reno but has he forgotten how terrorists under his boss strolled into a bus parked in the Federal Capital Territory to detonate bombs that killed hundreds of innocent citizens. We will never forget the Madalla church bombing in Niger state, the innocent boys that were slaugh*tered in their sleep in Buni-Yadi, Yobe state, and the Chibok girls kidnapped in Borno state. The list is tiringly endless.
5. Osinbajo’s speech spoke to the conscience of the Nigerian nation and provoked the question of Nigeria’s unity. In his words “Let our Tribe become one Tribe; the Nigerian Tribe where all are treated fairly, justly and with respect. Where all are given the equal access to the abundant opportunities that God has bestowed on this Nation.” That is the kind of president Nigeria needs, a president who will always unite the nation with the words of his mouth. I could remember vividly his famous speech delivered on the 50th anniversary of the civil war titled “We are all BIAFRANS.” What a unifying speech that was!
6. On the promises made by Osinbajo in 2015. What were the promises? Were they fulfilled? The last time I checked Osinbajo was a welfarist with a heart for the downtrodden in the society and that made him the arrowhead of the biggest Social Investment Programme in Africa’s history.
Did he deliver on his promise for the welfare programme? The answer is yes. Whatever happens after the first tenure of President Buhari as regards the creation of the ministry of humanitarian affairs and disaster management remains at the discretion of the president himself. It was generally believed it was done in the best interest of the country.
7. Osinbajo’s declaration did, indeed, betokens a speech that inspires a nation to greatness. His speech addressed the core issues affecting an average Nigerian by speaking directly to every fibre of our needs. Reno Omokri lacks the reputation and personality to tell Nigerians what to believe and what not to. The Nigerian people should be left to reflect on the choice of the array of candidates vying for the office of the president in 2023.
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