Osinbajo: How I became vice president

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has given an insight into how he became the number two citizen of Nigeria, though he was not a politician, in the midst of the intrigues and build up to the 2015 general elections.

Osinbajo’s explanation came Wednesday night against the backdrop of the controversy trailing how he has nominated and his eventual emergence as the Vice President.

A portion of a recently-launched book by Professor John Paden on Buhari, titled “Muhammadu Buhari: Challenges of Leadership,” claimed that Osinbajo emerged as Vice President despite pressure against it by a national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Paden stated that the former Lagos State governor had wanted the Vice President’s role for himself and not Osinbajo.

The Professor had noted that “With Buhari coming from the North-West geopolitical zone, the Vice-Presidency had been ceded to the South-West geopolitical zone.

But other reports on the issue indicated that Osinbajo was solely nominated by Tinubu.

Speaking at a dinner organised in honour of over 200 graduates and beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programmes at the Presidential Villa, Wednesday night, Prof Osinbajo gave an indication that he was not in the reckoning ab initio.

His word, “I was in a group of young men and women and one of them asked the question how did I become Vice President, I was never a politician or anything like that.

“So I tried to explain it is quite simple that someone somewhere has to recommend you. Somebody somewhere has to give you a helping hand, whether to be a Vice President or to be an aircraft pilot or to be an engineer, somebody somewhere has to give you an opportunity.

“And I think that all of you that are here today are the beneficiaries of the opportunities that you have somehow received. And this is why this event is so important. I think that it is one way we have to remind ourselves that we are bound as individuals to give opportunities to everyone,” he said.

Vice Presiden Osinbajo declared that a brighter future awaits Niger Delta ex-agitators on the successful completion of their training as pilots, automobile and electric transformer technicians among other educational and vocational skills in Nigeria and foreign universities.

The Vice president who congratulated the graduands urged them to refrain from blowing up the oil pipelines in the Niger Delta considering the negative effect on the economy of the nation now and in the future.

He noted that government had by the Programme gave them an opportunity to harness their God’s given potentials, urging them not to hesitate to also transfer the skill they have acquired to others.

He said: “The fact that you did so well is a tremendous opportunity for other people.

“We all have the responsibility to ensure that the future of the country is one that is secure. That cannot happen under the atmosphere of conflict.

“There is no point blowing up pipelines. If they are blown, who are the losers at the end of the day, all of us? Even the upcoming ones.

“This is a programme for giving the young people an opportunity to succeed. That’s the reason why we are doing the various vocational training all over the country.

“The future is here and your time has come. Just looking at you guys, I just know that the future is bright. I see you becoming the great people that God has made.