President Muhammadu Buhari will be leaving office in three months’ time, and while he will be remembered for a lot of things, surely, spending eight years as the most powerful person in the most populous black nation is enough flex to leave indelible marks on the country’s history. Eight years is enough time for many to yearn for a breath of fresh air, and a change of stewardship. This administration has touched virtually every life in Nigeria, positively and negatively. We have felt it and will continue to feel it. It has been a rollercoaster, but I digress.
However, President Buhari’s deputy, Professor Yemi Osinbajo will particularly be missed by many, particularly this writer.
I have never been close to Professor Osinbajo physically, not to talk of meeting him personally. I do not need to do that to appreciate him, his impact and potentials. I had really hoped that Nigerians bought in to his ideas and style, because I am sure he would have made one hell of a fine president!
I am a student of great and controversial men. From Bola Tinubu’s ability to scout, harness and project allies into positions of power, to Nasir El-rufai’s ability to be controversial, stubborn and lead with conviction and to Peter Obi’s humble and modest rhetoric. Even Atiku Abubakar is for me an evil genius, in spite of his failed attempts to become president in several times of asking. I am always in awe of the dynamics and intrigues that led to the rise, fall and resurrection of our past leaders since independence.
Osinbajo to me is a hybrid specimen of all of the traits of a good leader. It is not enough that he projects humility despite his credentials and background. It is the poise in which he uses to portray his strong verbal communication skills to all categories of audience. It is his palpable display of empathy and grace while painting an optimistic future of Nigeria, despite its current challenges. His decisiveness is perhaps for me, his most useful and pronounced trait.
Perhaps a book about his leadership and rhetoric, which would portray all of these traits during his eight-year reign, should suffice, along with a signed foreword by his boss, President Buhari.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will bow out as a fine public servant that will surely be missed by me and millions of other Nigerians. Do not bet on him becoming irrelevant as the months and years come. Happy 66th to his Excellency, the star boy. ‘We move’!
(THE NATION)
