By Banji Ayoola
The presidential campaign of the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, will be formally launched in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Saturday, February 5.
This was confirmed on Wednesday by the Director General, Osinbajo Campaign Council for Ondo State, Barrister Ifeolu Fasoranti, in an exclusive interview with The Radiance, where he reeled out reasons why Nigerians should elect Osinbajo as their next President in the coming 2023 elections.
Following is the full interview which held in Akure:
As the Director General of the Osinbajo Campaign Council for Ondo State, how do you plan to penetrate the state?
Thank you very much. It’s an assignment for everyone that prays for the good of this country. It’s not a job for politicians alone. It is for all technocrats, artisans, politicians and market women among others who want and pray for the goodness of Nigeria at this time that we are.
We have been here. I have been a student here. I have been a politician since 1992. I was a member of the Ways and Means Committee for Olumilua for Governor. I was a member of the Strategic and Tactical Committee, Olumilua for Governor. I was a member of Ways and Means Committee for Hope 93 Abiola for President. I was a Parliamentary Liaison Officer in the government of His Excellency Dr Olusegun Mimiko. I was Chief of Protocol in that same government. I was Personal Assistant to the Secretary to the Government of Ondo State and a Personal Assistant to the Federal Minister of Lands and Housing in the person of Dr Olusegun Mimiko.
We are going to put all these experiences together and navigate across the state. We are going to launch out on Saturday. We are going to bring our people from all the 18 local governments in Ondo State so that we can sit down together and discuss the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s candidature for Presidency.
At this point, we want to emphasise unequivocally, we want to say that the problem here is not the problem of money alone. In this scenario, we have seen in the Vice President a man that is capable, that has been tested, that is totally detribalized, and brilliant; a man that we can joyfully hold on to as our President, who can raise our flag among the Comity of nations and Nigerians will be proud that their President is there; a man that can take it further from where President Buhari would stop in the year 2023. He is a professor of Law, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He was the Attorney General of Lagos State for eight years, and up till now he has been a man without blemish. He is a man that has the fear of God in his mind, a man that is full of humility.
So we hope that if all of us can rally round him, he will give hope to the hopeless, to so many Nigerians wallowing in abject poverty, to so many who do not even have focus of what to do. So many are hopeless; so many graduates are out there without really knowing where to go or what to do.
We believe that the system will work well with Yemi Osinbajo the Vice President and that our teeming youths will have hope. There will be a light at the end of the dark tunnel.
Could you paint a picture of Nigeria with a possible Prof Osinbajo presidency?
Without trying to ruffle feathers, we believe that he has the energy, he is brilliant, energetic, hardworking and he understands the system. It takes a man that understands the system and an energetic man, a serious minded man to be able to drive the country Nigeria as a nation. It takes a man that wants to sacrifice himself and his time to salvage Nigeria not because of what he wants to gain. We believe that he is going to be selfless; he is going to balance the equation. We believe that as President, the Vice President will harness all the resources, and re-jig the system to work towards the interest of Nigeria rather than the interest of individuals. That is our hope.
What are the programmes that he has for this country?
In every civilized country, the first thing is the guarantee of peace, the safety of lives and properties. Two, there is the economic dynamics of the country, getting our people to look inward in terms of what they can do to boost the economy rather than import this and that. I could remember that for a short time that he served as Acting President, the Naira was stabilized against the Dollar; and he took some steps in national interest that Nigerians were happy all over. It wasn’t about Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Fulani or any other ethnic group in the country. All the decisions he had taken had been in national interest. We believe that going forward, if he is in the saddle himself and there is trust from all parts of Nigeria that this is Nigerian President, things will work out and the country will be stabilized.
Ondo State has been playing a critical role in the political history of this country. What will you tell your people to do about Prof Osinbajo? Why should they vote for him and be in the vanguard of the people campaigning for his election as Nigeria’s next President?
I believe that like you have rightly said, the role of Ondo State in the political history of Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. It is that same role that I will implore my people to come together to play. The Action Group was launched here in Ondo State precisely in Owo. Ondo State has been the cornerstone of South West politics based on principle. Our politics has never been based on what they call “chop I chop.” Based on this, our choice of the Vice President Osinbajo becoming President is based on that principle that he will drive the economy of this country aright and he will be totally detribalized that everything he will be doing will be in the interest of Nigeria but not in the interest of one tribe or individuals. He will drive the economy of this country and bring us to an enviable position among the Comity of nations.
Is his presidential campaign proper kicking off in Ondo State?
Yes. We are launching out on Saturday. I was in Kano where over 28 groups all over the country came together to adopt one single name and called it the New Tribe. The New Tribe means a country that will be totally detribalized, where we will not be asking where the President is from, a country that will work together in the interest of one nation, that will believe in one destiny, where a Yoruba or an Igbo man will see the Hausa man as his brother, where an Igbo man will not look down on a Hausa man, where a Hausa man will not hate an Igbo man, where the Ijaws will not believe that somebody in the Middle Belt is their enemy, where somebody in the Middle Belt will not feel that somebody is enslaving them, where we will see ourselves as brothers and sisters irrespective of religion, tribe or level of education.
We took that decision in Kano and it is that same spirit of unification of all groups that we are bringing to Ondo State, that all of us come together. No doubt there are pockets of individuals that believe in Prof Yemi Osinbajo’s dreams and aspirations, but there was no platform. All these groups will come together. We will work together assiduously to make sure that the Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo gets the ticket of the APC.
Apart from these groups, which are the other groups rooting for an Osinbajo Presidency?
There are individuals. If you go anywhere now, the Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo’s issue is being discussed. People see him as someone who will be the best candidate and the best President for Nigeria. These are the people we want to bring together. Some do not even have any political party. This is going to be a mass movement in support of the Vice President. Many people are hopeless. They want a way out. They want to have a hope in Nigeria. But driving it, we need an energetic leader, a fearless leader, somebody with vision and focus, somebody with brain and large heart, somebody that can be an epitome of good conscience to lead Nigeria.
What form would the Saturday’s event take?
We expect people across all ages and trades. We expect Professors of Law, medical doctors, so many people from different jobs or trades to attend it and adopt the Vice President as their presidential candidate in the coming 2023 election.
What of people from the APC and other political establishments?
I am a member of APC. So many people within the party who join will come to push it. But the moment the presidential ticket is given to the Vice President, then he becomes the property of the party.
How do you plan to nullify some political interests who by virtue of their wealth and presumed power, believe they own Yorubaland and Nigeria, and as such they alone are fit to be Nigeria’s next President?
No, it’s not a matter of nullification. We are all taking our fate in our hands to make sure that Nigeria survives as a country. For instance, if you remember what happened in the #EndSARS protests, no rich man could come out or walk the streets. It was already becoming a fearful event. People were already getting agitated. People were already threatened, becoming so afraid and hoping the protesters won’t come to their houses. It was getting to that stage. This is an opportunity because people are bottled up. There is pent up anger everywhere in people that are hopeless, who do not have anything to do; people that are even working and it is like they are not working at all. And this one was not limited to the South West alone. It went as far as Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory and everywhere there was crisis.
This is an opportunity for us to choose somebody that we will have hope in. let’s try this one that is a bridge between the old and the new. Let’s see whether this one will understand what we are going through.
I call him the Ark of Noah. This is an opportunity. Many young men are watching the system closely. You can see the menace, the rate at which young men are getting themselves killed. You can see the frustrations. You can see the rate at which people take drugs because of frustration, societal pressure.
This is an opportunity given by God for us. It’s a window of opportunity. This is not a matter of money. Even as it is, are rich men comfortable now? Can rich men walk the streets of our country freely? Can rich men travel in luxurious cars on our roads now freely? Is this how things will be going without hope? These are the things we looked at and said: “Let’s give it a trial. Let’s try this young man that is committed.” He has seen it all; a Professor of Law, a senior advocate. I know what it takes to become a lawyer because I am one. And for him to have dedicated himself to the service of the country with the fear of God in his mind, we will give him a trial. Even when he gets there, we will assist him with prayer for God to uphold him.
Nigeria needs prayer. This one is not manafiki (fraud). For Nigeria to survive as a country now we need prayer and we all have to put our hands on deck to support that which is right. It’s not about money. Money has failed individuals in Nigeria. The wealth of individuals does not amount to the wealth of our country Nigeria. Let there be opportunities for everybody. Let our people have hope. That is why we are out on this project.
You have rightly identified the problems confronting this country, particularly insecurity. How does Prof Osinbajo intend to solve this problem if elected President?
I don’t think I want to really delve into that. But I know that he as the President and other well meaning Nigerians will like to convey a security meeting whereby all stakeholders be you in the army, police, civil rights organizations, or any others will come together to say this is the way forward. Who are the people that have been injured? Is it the Hausa, Fulani, farmers, this or that? And we can solve these problems. All I know is that God will show him the way to resolve the security crisis in Nigeria.
The practice now is that presidential aspirants are saying they are making consultations. We heard of Senator Bola Tinubu, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar making consultations. Apart from the two, some other aspirants have also come out. What consultations have the Vice President been making?
Prof has been moving across the country. He has been meeting leaders, traditional rulers, former Presidents, former military rulers and everybody. Even in recent time he was in Katsina to meet the mother of the late President Umaru Yar’adua. He has been meeting everybody across, not only in Yorubaland. He goes to the North and South. He is a totally detribalized man. He has been meeting people and discussing and he is getting endorsements all over from former Presidents, former Governor of Niger, the Deputy Governor of Edo here, former Deputy Governor of Kano, and from so many other people. People want Nigeria to move forward and people believe that Osinbajo has the capacity.
And the economy, how does he plan to handle this, to reshape the economy?
All these things depend on all of us. The moment you have trust in the leadership, the policies will work and the economy will bounce back. It’s a matter of trust.
Have you got to all the governors with your consultations?
All of the governors are talking not at our level. If the Vice President calls you as the governor and I am not the governor, will you come and tell me that you and the Vice President are talking? They attend meetings together either officially or unofficially. They attend events together either officially or unofficially, even over tea and coffee. There is no way he won’t say “My friend I am contesting. I need your support.” Is that not consultation? So let’s leave everything to God. At our own level, let’s identify what we want to do. Let’s mobilize ourselves, and protect and defend that which we believe in.
What do you want to tell Ondo people to give as their special contribution to the campaign for an Osinbajo presidency?
Their massive support is what we seek so that they don’t let this gift, this opportunity slip through their fingers. It’s a rarely given opportunity. It is not an accident for him to have been positioned at this time, the proximity to it, the choice of first refusal. In every civilized country, where the President is going, the Vice President has the choice of first refusal except he says he doesn’t want to do. It is now our duty to support him from behind. He has the choice of first refusal. He is capable, tested, trusted and fearless. He is young and energetic. He has the brain, the chest and the fear of God.
After Saturday’s launching in Akure, Ondo State, where next will the campaign train move to?
We will start visiting the high and the mighty, all the political leaders in APC, all obas and baales, students associations, lecturers whether in groups or as individuals. We will start telling them that “This is the Ark of Noah. Come in now before the rain starts. Let’s move together to the promised land.”
Nigeria has a very bright future. I can see a ray of hope. I can see light at the end of the dark tunnel. Our children will not start running abroad to be slaves. They will not be desperate to start killing themselves. They will see the need to do that which is right. Our youths will no longer go into illegalities because they want to quickly make money to survive out of desperation. I see a ray of hope. I see light at the end of the dark tunnel with President Yemi Osinbajo.
Any further comments?
I am very grateful my brother for this opportunity and I will welcome you to the summit on Saturday at Elena Hotels.
The summit is different from the campaign proper?
The summit is where we are going to launch out the campaign with representatives from all over the 18 local governments from different tribes. The Ebira, Igbo and Hausa communities among others will be here, and we will launch out properly. Then we will start meeting individuals across the state.
Thank you.
