Three weeks to first anniversary of the present government, the Vice
President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has revealed that how be became the
running mate to President Mohammadu Buhari, saying his disposition to
fight corruption in Nigeria was the motivating factor.
According to Vanguard, Osinbajo spoke at a non-denominational conference
organized by the Covenant Christian Centre in Abuja on Saturday.
He said
‘’In December 2014, the unexpected happened; I was nominated as Vice Presidential candidate to then General Muhammadu Buhari.
He then recalled that he was still young, 27years old when Buhari
became head of State “after a corrupt and somewhat disappointing
civilian regime.”
“As a young university lecturer, then I was impressed by his, President
Buhari’s single-minded fight against corruption and indiscipline. There
was a serious war against indiscipline.
For the first time, government held corrupt officers accountable. “30
years later, providence brought us together. A retired general now and a
Professor of Law.”
Osinbajo said the President and himself knew and agreed on what had to
happen to bring change to the nation. “We both believed that our country
needed to change. We argued about how and what needed to be done. We
reached consensus on many of the major issues.
‘’Certainly our country need a different set of values; a new way of
doing business; an economy that is able to give opportunity to young
people to work in their chosen professions and to build strong and
profitable businesses. We knew that we had to provide social protection
for the poorest and the most vulnerable.
“We recognised that innovation and change will be key, and that we must
implement and not just talk about diversification of our economy. So we
led our party’s campaign on that single, simple, but profound word,
CHANGE! “Nearly a year on- there are many problems and many have asked
where is the change? Is this the change we voted for? Even some fifth
columnists in our midst have suggested bring back corruption! “
But let me just say here for the records that the government of
Muhammadu Buhari is completely and irrevocably committed to change. “We
believe that though it may not be easy, though the early signs may be
confusing and sometimes discouraging, there has never been a better
opportunity than now to turn the country in the direction of success. “
Today we have the best opportunity in decades for profound change.
It is an opportunity in a generation. A revolution whose time has come!
Everything around us tells us that the moment is now! Can this change
happen, yes indeed, it can! ‘’What do you have in your hands to make it
happen? We have a country that is tired of corruption, tired of
leadership without values, tired of an economy that is neither designed
to accommodate enterprise, nor to create opportunity and wealth for the
majority. “But we have a leadership and we have a leader that is
prepared to challenge the rotten status quo, one who has said that he is
prepared to kill corruption rather than let it kill us,” he said