Because many are not talking or writing about him, I’m going to expound
on the self-effacing Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, today. Please,
don’t stop reading as I’m sure he doesn’t seem to be an interesting
subject. But let’s closely examine the nation’s second most powerful man
and one that is, as the records at the Code of Conduct show, richer
than his boss. Quietly waltzing through the power corridors, the
unassuming Osibanjo is, to me, like the ultimate house mouse: You knew
it is there, yet because it doesn’t bother you, you don’t either.
Personally, I’m yet to set my eyes on him in real life but I’m sure I
wouldn’t recognise him if I bumped into him at Shoprite.
And while President Muhammdu Buhari is getting all the praise (and flak)
for real and imaginary strides (or lack of it), the Veep is sometimes
overlooked by commentators. But you can’t blame anyone. Before he became
VP, he wasn’t a popular figure on the nation’s psyche. Most of his
exploits were in law – as a teacher and lawyer in private practice. I
asked some school kids the other day to name the current vice president.
Many of them didn’t get it. They are in good company. At one time too,
even his boss didn’t quite get the name. But Osibanjo is potent all the
same, silently plodding on unlike the men who have sat on his seat
before. We have seen super star VP’s like the legendary Alhaji Abubakar
Atiku (who, in the beginning, was also richer than his boss). Even the
immediate past VP, Namadi Sambo, was something of a maverick. Other
unforgettable number twos include Dr. Alex Ekwueme, the lateTunde
Idiagbon and Augustus Aikhomu. My other all-time favourites are General
Oladipo Diya and Ebitu Ukiwe. These were men who refused to dissolve in
the shadows of their bosses. Who can forget the historic travails of
Abubakar Atiku? His crisis started when he literally became more
powerful than his boss – the strong man himself, President Olusegun
Obasanjo. Talks were rife then that Atiku had practically forced the
great Obasanjo to his knees to beg the northern governors who had
decided Obasanjo isn’t going nowhere. A vindictive Obasanjo was to later
engage his deputy in one of the most epic political battles of all
time.post by expdonaloaded.blogspot.com.. Today, the two are back as chums having found a common foe in the
PDP. Oladipo Diya is another historic number two. He also allegedly went
on knees to beg for his life after he was implicated in an attempt to
oust the goggled one. Namadi Sambo was the loyal ally who just stood by
and watched as his boss got hacked down. He probably couldn’t do much
considering the tide at the time. He made some effort though. He called
himself Port Harcourt boy (a title already appropriated by the likes of
singer Duncan Mighty and Wike) to appeal to a section of southerners
maybe. He was almost a pariah in a North that loathed his boss. And when
he finally made that abominable slip in reciting a common Islamic
prayer at a campaign, he sealed his and his boss’s fate amongst his
people. Sambo actually tried because he survived many attempts to push
him out; he remained resolute.
But now the new kid on the block is the rather dour subject of this
column today. What do you think of him? Views varied but the dominant
back story is that Osinbanjo is an intellectual. No one is arguing about
that one. The man is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), though someone
quickly told me recently that being a SAN is no big deal. Others
believe the former commissioner of Justice is just way out of his
league. And I can understand that.
In most states, the commissioner of justice is not a man of power. His
colleagues at finance, agriculture and works often see more action. And
although he is the attorney general of the state, it’s often just a big
title. Their infrequent break often comes when there is a big agreement
to be signed. Beyond that, they are in the Security Council as
observers; they are of course on the big cases the state may be handling
and then they watch closely the activities of the agencies under them.
Politically, there isn’t too much action for them like say the SSG or
the person in charge of the local government and chieftaincy affairs. So
the good professor would have watch things from a distance while in
office. And now he is here, second to none other but the fire-spitting,
ultimate warrior Buhari. Even in size, his boss must be intimidating to
him. Then there is the whole issue of the man’s mystique – a force with
which he is running the country. I try to imagine the kind of
relationship that exists between the two – one imperial and imposing,
the other humble and puny. But then maybe Osibanjo would be lucky as the
late Tunde Idiagbon was. Those who remembered said as Buahri and the
unsmiling Idiagbon got on well, with some insisting that the latter
actually even called the shots. But then Osibanjo is no Idiagbon. I see
him smiling most of the time; especially when he is delivering his
professorial lectures, which is becoming his trade mark. He shares one
thing in common with his boss though – they are both ascetics. While
Buhari’s asceticism derives from his faith and career as a soldier,
Yemi’s is borne out of faith too and the discipline of the academia. Are
they practical people who are not carried away by the dreams of a
Utopian state? Are they in touch with the realpolitik of the Nigerian
space? Would they continue to be friends or would their similarities
someday split them? What drama awaits the duo in the coming years? Well,
like they say, that’s what time is for.
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