Laolu Akande Reveals Inside Details of Working With Vice President Yemi Osinbajo
- Laolu Akande says working as the spokesperson to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has been inspiring
- He revealed that he had left Nigeria for the United States in 1998 and had wanted to return home and work for the government
- Akande also revealed that he once had a tense moment with the Vice President whenever he thought he was acting like a journalist
FCT, Abuja - Laolu Akande, the spokesperson of Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has revealed inside details of working with Nigeria’s number two citizen for almost eight years.
Akande, a former Guardian newspaper staff, left the United States of America in 2015 to work with Osinbajo as a media aide.
Source: Facebook
Speaking to Daily Trust TV on Friday night, May 19, Akande said it was easy to leave the United States and return home because the vice president had a reputation that preceded him.
He said having the opportunity to work under President Muhamadu Buhari’s government through the Office of the Vice President answered his prayers when he left Nigeria for the United States in 1998.
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His words:
“It has been a very thrilling experience for me. I also consider it a great privilege and a wonderful opportunity to serve your country, especially at that level, for someone who has always wanted to be part of fixing the country.
“I remember when I left in 1998 to go to the United States, I had a prayer with God, and I said I wanted to come back to Nigeria and work in a government if that government would be a government of serious reform.
“And when I got the opportunity to do that, I felt that it was an answer to my prayer. So, serving for these eight years at that level and with the Vice President and the President is a great privilege and honour.”
Speaking on Osinbajo’s passion for Nigerians and his job, Akande said:
“What you see is what you get. He has a passion not only for the job and any task that he is given, but he has a passion for people, a true passion for people.
“From day one, he said we are not going to be here forever, whatever we want to do, let us do it, we have very limited time. Whether it is four years, or eight years or even more, it is limited time; we have to do what we have to do and do it well.”
Responding to a question about his professional and personal relationship with Osinbajo, Akande said:
“We share a few values together. Government is meant very strictly to serve the people; he shares that view, so we have that common belief. So it wasn’t difficult for us to blend and become very personally close.
“We shared other things together. The only time that maybe we have some tension in our relationship is when he thinks I’m just being a journalist, and he will say, “You this man you are no longer a journalist, you are a government spokesman.”
He added that Osinbajo exists to inspire to build a better future for individuals, groups, and the country.
His words:
“I find him to be somebody, first and foremost by his reputation, which was why I decided to come and join his campaign.
“He went in as Attorney General in 1999, into a Lagos state judiciary that was rampantly corrupt, and he was able to sanitize it and turn that around. That told me that this is somebody who wants to do something.
“This is somebody that understands that at the heart of governance must be the people and his sense of social justice.
“When you see how he relates with people personally, he inspires a lot by his service by what he is able to achieve, by the values that he espouses, the things that he believes and how he works. He inspires.
“Before I started working with him, I used to think I was a gentleman but one of the things I quickly realised that he is a gentleman.”
Osinbajo Worthier APC Candidate Than Tinubu, Says Peter Obi, Gives Reason
In another development, the Labour Party presidential hopeful, Peter Obi, thinks Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would have made a better candidate for the ruling party.
He stated that he confronted some of the All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders on why they did not consider Osinbajo.
Obi noted that Nigeria would progress and work effectively if someone healthy is at the helm of affairs.
Source: Legit.ng
