Prof Sola Adeyeye, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, has praised the immediate past Vice President of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osinbajo for leaving office quietly, rather than with the pomp and circumstance that politicians in this part of the world are accustomed to.
Speaking to The PUNCH in Abuja on Sunday, the former Chief Whip of the 7th Senate slammed the snide remarks that greeted a viral video of Osinbajo and his wife, Dolapo, arriving at the presidential wing of Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos from Abuja, shortly after the May29 inauguration ceremony.
On social media and in the viral video, the former Vice President received some harsh criticism from the public, with some describing his decision to run for the APC presidential ticket as an act of disrespect to Bola Tinubu, who eventually prevailed in the February 25 presidential election.
He said : “I have received, for the umpteenth time, a video of the arrival of Prof and Mrs. Osinbajo at the Lagos airport. The arrival was without the pomp and pageantry that holders of exalted political offices receive in Nigeria. Along with the video are tendentious and silly snide remarks.
“It would have been easy for Prof Yẹmí Osìnbàjò to do what most politicians periodically do. He could have instructed some of his staff and supporters to organize an impressive crowd to await his arrival at the airport.
“For far less than ten million naira, he could have distributed bales of Ankara along with snacks and some chicken change to singing women and noise belching men.
“Needless to say, the capacity of a politician to stage such shows is directly correlated with the extent of his involvement in crude, appropriative, cash-and-carry politics.
“May God bless Yẹmí Osinbajo for not embracing the wayward exhibitionism that often defines the thoughtless populism of the Nigerian political class. His job as Vice President has been done. A hallmark of the Christian life he professes is to be able to truthfully say with Apostle Paul: “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:12-13.
He further stated that, unlike other office holders, “Osìnbàjò does not need a red carpet. The real losers are not Yẹmí and Dọlapọ Osinbajo but those whose superficiality makes them to define a leader by the carpet on which he walks”.
