Now That Osinbajo Has Declared

As a number of jokers, jesters, pretenders and contenders are all angling to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari, there is a clear silver lining in the APC skies, one prospect that had kept many waiting, allowing them to keep second guessing on his possible candidature.

After spending seven years as a loyal and dedicated Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo finally broke the silence that had kept cynics and political panjandrums on a guessing game, as to whether he will take a chance at succeeding his boss come 2023 when he officially declared on Monday, the 11th of April, 2022.

Prior to this declaration, many Nigerians will agree that despite Osinbajo’s somewhat golden silence on whether he would run or not, his political profile did continue to gather much steam with a number of analysts considering him as a possible shoe-in for the presidency in 2023. Osinbajo has over the years earned a reputation for his hard work, loyalty, integrity, and his stints as acting president of the Federation in which he demonstrated that he was up to the statecraft of governing a nation like Nigeria.

So what does an Osinbajo presidency offer? Would as Osinbajo 2023 run translate to a seamless transfer of power from a sitting President to his deputy? A first in the history of the country, just following in the record-setting footsteps of 2015 which saw the first-ever transfer of democratic power between opposition parties in Nigeria at federal level in Nigeria.

Now that Osinbajo has decided to run, he will no longer be running on a deficit of national experience as he did as a fresh vice Presidential candidate in 2015, no, Osinbajo by now has his experience tank filled to the brim, and should also have it easy to garner support from the incumbent president’s voter base.

There is little disagreement that Osinbajo is best positioned for the 2023 presidential run, he is not an outsider like a number of aspirants appear to be, neither does he possess the loathsome baggage a number of these other aspirants bear with them, neither has he presented himself as being desperately ambitious for the plum job compared to what we witnessed during the Obasanjo/Atiku Abubakar Era.

Osinbajo has not chosen to vainly hug the spotlight or attempted to create two presidencies within the presidency. He has simply swam with the tides whether they ebb or they flow, and yet he has created a looming image of a leader whose competence and capacity as helmsman cannot be dismissed. His oversight of the National Economic Council (NEC) has been praised again and again by the Governors, including opposition Governors. Like his boss, the President, Vice President Osinbajo is a stickler for equity and fairness – all States have gotten what is due to them regardless of their partisan leaning.

In addition to these numerous factors, Osinbajo possesses intellectual heft, which President Buhari has repeatedly praised, and that has endeared him to many around the country. Here is a Professor who leaves no doubt as to his scholarship, unlike say a Goodluck Jonathan. Before his emergence as Veep, he was a leading voice for judicial reform and for access to justice for indigent people, reforms he impressively achieved as Attorney General of Lagos State. In the Vice Presidency he has continued to be a voice and champion for legal and judicial reforms.

This piece will not fail to mention the fact that the same Osinbajo is a driving force behind the social investment programmes implemented by the Buhari administration, programmes such as the N-Power Programme, which has employed over 1,000,000 graduates; the GEEP loans (Market Moni, FarmerMoni and Trader Moni), which have made access to credit easy for 4 million Nigerian traders, artisans and businessmen; and the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme.

It is not by mistake that the President has turned to him again and again to lead on the administration’s poverty alleviation and wealth creation initiatives, like the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP), aimed at reflating the Nigerian economy post-Covid, and the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy, meant to support the presidential vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty this decade.

Through the NESP for example, Nigerians are to benefit from several packages like MSME Survival Fund, Youth Fund, Mass Housing Programmes, Farmers Fund and Teachers’ Welfare Scheme, all these have one way or the other helped ameliorate the hardships imposed on Nigerians by the advent of the COVID 19 pandemic. It can also be agreed that it is the NESP that helped lift Nigeria out of its second recession.

An Osinbajo candidature would naturally appeal to numerous voters, part of this appeal would stem from how he has been able to stand out in the discharge of his duties as Veep. Calm, competent, loyal, and a man of character.

While others have hurdles to scale, Osinbajo will have a definite headstart given his experience and his sterling record as the number two man. This is surely a man who will hit the ground running.

Now that Osinbajo has declared to run, it is indeed obvious that his entry has opened a remarkable phase In the 2023 polls.