They arrived Uyo in droves. By night fall on Thursday, the Akwa Ibom State capital had been fully occupied. The entire town was taken over by men and women who stormed the town to propagate the message of Prof Yemi Osinbajo. They came with one thing in mind: to make a statement about the personae of the vice president and why he is the best person to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
They took over all the hotels in Uyo. From Maiduguri to Cross River, from Sokoto to Abakiliki, from Lagos to Enugu, the Osinbajo supporters came. And they were warmly received by the local organising committee of the conference code-named the Uyo Declaration, under the leadership of a former state chairman of the PDP, now a chieftain of the APC, Otu Ita Toyo.
It was not a gathering of politicians alone. There were technocrats. There were members of the academia. There were students. There were artisans. Serving and former public servants were there. Traditional rulers were there also, just as religious leaders. It was a gathering of Nigerians. It was a congregation of the new tribe, a tribe where neither gender nor religious belief nor family background nor ethnicity or language, nor social status was considered, a tribe of Nigerians who said they were all out to midwife the birth of a brand new Nigeria.
At the event, prominent leaders spoke glowingly about the capacity of Osinbajo to lead the country and solicited the support of Nigerians to enable him win. One of those who spoke along this line was High Chief Edem Duke,a former minister of tourism.
He said: “I know that Professor Yemi Osibanjo is a man whose academic competence pose political sophistry, pose humility, pose diligence, somebody who is passionate about Nigeria, a man who can represent Nigeria sitting with any other president in the world with little or no prompting.
“I know and I believe that this is the gentleman who can represent us anywhere. If they are speaking English there, he will speak a sophisticated one, if they are speaking French there, he will speak a very knowledgeable one. Put him side by side with Obama, the only thing Obama will use to beat him is his skill in the playing of basket ball, other than that, this is a gentleman who can engage any political leader across the over 50 countries in Africa and the entire world.
“This is a man who is technologically savvy, he can deal with technology, he can decipher, he is also able to engage with the young people. There is no gap, therefore, it is better for him to also carry the burden of the youth. This is a man whose religious persuasion has taught him to respect the holistical beliefs of all and sundry. He can operate in the horizon, he can operate in the platoon and this I think recommends him amply for the emergence and participation in the presidential race on the platform of the APC.
And if it is the desire of the APC that he flies that flag either by consensus or by any other democratic process, the APC will be playing its smart politics because I believe that the governors in Nigeria, whether they are in APC or in PDP, they are at home with Yemi Osibanjo. He is humble enough to understand, he can read where they are going to from where they start, he does not premeditate or preconceive anything whatsoever about any other human being or any other political leader, he is that kind of man.”
Almost the same thing came from the local organising committee when they addressed journalists, shortly after Otu Ita Toyo read the communiqué. Toyo, in responding to a question on Osinbajo’s readiness to run in 2023 under the banner of the APC said “Professor Osibanjo’s readiness for service has never been in doubt. Right from the age of 23, he has designated himself for service, it is second nature to the guy. So, the business of trying to persuade him does not even arise. As a matter of fact, he probably feels extremely let down if he doesn’t have something to contribute to the betterment of his country. So he is ready and will run if we give him the platform.
God has always given him an opportunity to showcase his talent and he has never shied from it. So he will be there to help others and you can see, he worked as a lecturer, became a professor, became an attorney general, became a SAN; Senior Advocate of Nigeria, became a vice president, a man who has served in all those capacities has shown an incomparable capacity to serve under people. So, this business of defecting is very alien to his character. He will not be encouraged to defect.”
Dr. Kabiru Akawura, chairman of the National Bureau of Statistics, in his remarks at a dinner that was organised for the delegates extolled the virtues of Osinbajo. Akawura who said he has been in politics for the past 46 years noted that it dawned on him a long time ago, that Osinbajo was the man with the capacity to succeed Buhari in times like this.
He said the vice president was a humble, loyal servant who has shown those attributes in his handling of state affairs whenever he had the opportunity, without any plans to undermine the president.
He said if the vice president were greedy and self- serving, he would have taken advantage of the many opportunities he had to act as president, to cause chaos in the country with a view to taking over power. He urged Nigerians to queue behind Osinbajo from the very moment that he would declare his intention to contest.
Senator Babafemi Ojudu, the presidential adviser on political matters was almost moved to tears when he discovered that many of the delegates from the north, even with out any invitation, found their way to Uyo on their own, just to show how far they were ready to go for Osinbajo. He called them the true heroes of the expected new Nigeria.
Then he challenged all the supporters to get into the field and recruit more supporters for the Osinbajo project. In particular, he urged them to go after all the delegates who would vote during the APC primaries. “Go and get their names, all of the groups from wherever you come from, get the names of the delegates, get their telephone numbers, let us have them. We will be calling them everyday, we’ll be talking to them, we’ll be convincing them, we’ll be persuading them, we’ll be begging them that for the sake of our children, for the sake of our grandchildren and for the sake of all Nigerians.”
Ojudu said it would take the sacrifices of all Nigerians for the expected change to occur. He also said the vice president may not be as rich as those with bullion vans, but that his wealth was measured by the number of Nigerians who have already endorsed him and were willing to go all out for him.
Hear him: “You all know who the delegates are, they live with you, they live in your neighbourhood, they are your friends, they are your husbands, they are your wives, they are your brothers, they are your sisters, they are your leaders; go out to them and spread the gospel, that you have found this man Osibanjo capable to become president of this country come next year.
“There are about six thousand plus delegates; we must be ready to win five thousand of those delegates. So now the battle is in your hands. They are saying we don’t have structures, you are our structures, go out and build more structures, all of the groups that have come from all over the country, you are the structure of this man of God, this man that we all know is capable of taking this country from where it is now to a higher level.
“So, it is now, don’t leave him alone, he has no bullion van, but he has you, he has you Nigerians, and he is waiting for you to be everywhere for him, let us go and then each one of you here, if you decide to convince ten delegates each, then we have won this race, and you are capable of doing so.”
Udo Edukere sent the piece from Uyo.
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