Osinbajo, the Quintessential Poster Child and Serial Victim of Bad Governance
Dr. Issa Perry Brimah
We pray for Pastor Yemi Osinbajo. May God spare his life.
Pastor Osinbajo’s journey “near-death” happenstances perfectly paint the picture of the journey of Nigerians these past four and most of the prior years. Wia wia wia wia today.
The Vice president’s nearly deadly take-offs remind us of the several month delay Nigerians were put through when Buhari wasted our time selecting a cabinet that ended up consisting some of the worsts of an expired brand. People like Minister Shittu who has a dedicated counter on PremiumTimes main page reminding us of the days since it was discovered he had no NYSC certificate. “Blackmailed” Kemi Adeosun, million-dollar borehole Fashola… the list goes on and on. With bad ministers comes death and near death experiences for Nigerians.
Pastor Osinbajo’s bullet riddled journey illustrates the lives of Nigerians everyday. The VP is not a victim of targeting. No one is trying to kill him anymore than they try to and sometimes successfully kill me and you in our Nigeria. Our VP simply drove through a normal risky road in Nigeria and met thugs in gun battle. Or perhaps it was soldiers in his convoy who misfired and shot at crowds. Who knows for sure. It was that same Kwara where Senator Shaaba Lafiagi drove and his state security men fired at and killed as many as five innocent youth and nothing was done about it.
I protested in Kwara state after the event, carrying a placard #Justice4Kwara5. I met with the police commissioner who told me the processes were slow but that they were investigating. Bleh! Our youth die in vain with no justice in Kwara as they die without justice at the hands of trigger-eager soldiers, police and customs officials in Onitsha, Delta, Zaria, Borno and elsewhere. No one is prosecuted or even retired. So perhaps it was the insecurity due to bad governance that led to the shootout Osinbajo happened to drive through, or it was trigger-thirsty soldiers in his convoy, who knows. Nigeria remains the most terrorized country on earth. Four years of Osinbajo and his APC have failed to even dent that reputation, rather terror has increased under the Buhari-Osinbajo government.
Terror has become official government policy with government agencies announcing that “they will not go after Fulani terrorists.” Terror prevails as the police officially rescind their duties and has become only a service that renders bodyguards for the wealthy cabal, and the army unconstitutionally usurps the duty to police the state, massacring and secretly burying our youth en-mass in state-actor terror. This is why there is no security. This is why we all routinely experience death and near-death daily as Osinbajo happened to in Kwara on campaign and not commiseration with the families of the victims of Senator Lafiagi.
In fact the president openly directs the state security departments to perpetrate terror as happened in his broadcast –wow, elections done come, Buhari dey talk to us now – telling them to kill ballot snatchers and they discard their sworn rules of engagement and agree to engage in terror as directed by the president. May God help us this weekend.
Osinbajo’s risky journey has been our story, but not just with terror and insecurity, but pretty much everything else our lives depend on: economy, justice, you name it. We suffer and die of poverty because looting has expanded under Buhari. The holes in the NNPC Diezani used to reportedly loot with were never sealed but rather expanded. Not only has Buhari almost doubled the fuel subsidy which he tried to rebrand, but in addition to the expanded fuel subsidy, he added a secret FOREX subsidy which the same oil mafia enjoy on the same single item. That’s two subsidies on one item. Wow! Oil looter cabal paradise! Billionaires being made by NNPC boss Buhari and his CBN chief or thief, Emefiele as former CBN governor, Emir Sanusi lamented.
And Osinbajo’s near-death landing is where we are today. The carelessness of the agency he hired to carry him, is our carelessness in selecting his government. The way they did not conduct a proper landing assessment and almost killed the Vice president in the dusty site is how Buhari chose INEC’s Mahmood Yakubu and how Mahmood Yakubu could not conduct a simple election. Nigeria has lost billions of dollars in direct spending waste and stalling of businesses and movement due to the election blunders, and it’s still counting. While thanks to God, Osinbajo did not die, Nigerians have died and continue to do so in the hands of his dangerous stewardship.
I was shocked when the VP came out and debunked rumors he had finally resigned in frustration. If the government he is part of, committing crimes against humanity with the Zaria, Onitsha, Delta, Abuja and other massacres and secret midnight mass burials, did not make him resign, what of the disobedience to court orders, keeping Dasuki, Zakazaky and the like illegally detained in contempt of court? Not enough to make SAN Osinbajo resign? The illegal sacking of Justice Onnoghen?
Each time his government killed or persecuted the people, persecuted Amnesty international, United Nations, DailyTrust, PremiumTimes, Farook Kperogi, Deji Adeyanju, yours truly, even threatening USA, UK, EU with death and body guards, I expected Osinbajo to throw in the towel. One would expect him to resign in protest, resign in principle or resign for posterity. Why did he not? Personal ambition? Perhaps he still will this Friday evening. I have not yet given up on him and man finding his conscience.
To all Nigerians, may God protect you from the terror of the army if they obey the illegal terror order of president Muhammadu Buhari this Saturday. And for those of you who love Pastor Osinbajo, protect him from himself and his bad government. Help him to go back to the Church where he will be safe from himself and we will be safe from him.
We pray for Nigeria. May God spare our lives.