Buhari Is Nigeria’s Most Popular Politician in Generations, VP Osinbajo Says

Yemi Osinbajo

Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, said at the weekend in London that President Muhammadu Buhari was the only politician in Nigeria at this time with the charisma and credibility to rally the whole country behind the patriotic push to rise above its current challenges.

Osinbajo stressed the need for Nigeria to remain an indivisible country, assuring that its challenges would soon be overcome.

The vice president spoke during an interactive session with top officials of the Nigerian High Commission in London.

He declared, “If you look at all of us sitting here, we represent all the geopolitical zones. This is the Nigeria that will succeed; anything else doesn’t make sense.”

Describing Buhari’s popularity and credibility as a crucial factor in galvanizing the entire system to resolve the challenges, Osinbajo said, “The president is possibly the most popular Nigerian politician that we ever had in generations. He is possibly the only person, who can go into a place or somewhere without bossing people to gather and they will come and listen to him speak.

“We need that level of credibility to be able to solve problems in our country. And I think because of his level of credibility, despite everything, he is still the only one that can call everyone, and even people, who do not necessarily agree with him know that he is a man of his words.”

Osinbajo urged Nigerians at home and in the diaspora to promote the message of one country, noting, “Anybody, who looks at how Nigeria operates will recognise that we are better off in this system, and that is the truth.

“Yoruba are not better off on their own. Igbos are not better off on their own. The North is not better off on its own. We are better off as one nation, that is why we are strong and that is why we can face the world.”

Further stressing the need for unity, he stated, “If you read of the economics of smaller nations, they are looking for how they can become stronger by aligning with other nations. How does a country with all the potential and everything that we have, think that the best way is to break up?

“We are at a point in time in our history, where we have security challenges; we have economic challenges, and if you talk about security, there are so many dimensions to it. If you look carefully, all of these could happen to any government and I think we are in the very best position to solve the problems that face us today.

“Security challenges that we have didn’t show up in one day but it is the government, the people, the men and women that will handle them.We happen to be that government, and I am very convinced that we are entirely capable of handling these challenges. I think we are in the best possible position to solve these problems.”

Osinbajo enjoined staff of the High Commission to remain good ambassadors of the country and endeavour to promote justice and fairness in their activities, even as they make more efforts to promote government’s programmes and policies.

He said, “We must promote one country. But, of course, everybody talks about justice, fairness and balance, and that is what we must try to do on a continuous basis.

“Let us not be discouraged, let us be very confident, because our country will come out of all these problems and emerge stronger. So, I urge every person, who represents our country, to ensure that we represent the country well and be able to speak up at the right forum about the country and what we are doing.”

Deji Elumoye in Abuja