In the baptistry of Nigerian politics, there are always shirking shocks and wild waves. A clean guy in politics is in business amidst wolves. You think every wild wolf may have the heart and mind of a meek sheep? Wrong. You are swimming in waters full of venomous crocodiles and human-consuming sharks. Any good person with a big and kind heart and a progressive mindset may have no choice but to dine with the devil. Not too long ago, my spirit, soul and body were laced in the trenches of the preliminary process leading up to choosing who becomes Nigeria’s President in 2023. With apologies to none, I stood with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in that season when he threw it all in, in an attempt to succeed his principal, retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari, as president.
For Osinbajo, the June political process was a baptism of fire. The boondoggle of Nigerian politics railroaded the VP to a third place in a contest where minds of the voting delegates had already been made up on which way they would travel. Aside encouragements from little people like us, who wanted Osinbajo to run to save Nigeria from corrupt and mean men with hearts of depravity, many in high places behind the scenes also urged the Professor of Law who sat one heartbeat away from the presidency, to run. They saw him as a perfect fit in a game largely run by misfits. They knew he would have brought virtues to the table. They were convicted that he was the one who would inundate the terrain with appreciable experience as the Chairman of the National Economic Council, member of the National Security Council, the National Defense Council, the Federal Executive Council and a participant in all cabinet meetings. Osinbajo was and still is seen as a virtuous teacher of law and not a man of crazy ambition or thirst for power.
The clamours to have the VP run were not the only reason he wanted to be president. Osinbajo surrendered to the still small voice in his heart. And he is saluted around the world for neither surrendering to the threat of monarchical men nor kowtowing to roars from the lion’s den. Now, he must have left that season behind and moved on to greater strides ahead. With the onrushing headwind experience he garnered, Osinbajo will never forget Nigerian politicians in a hurry.
Before the primaries, daily we heard from, and about Osinbajo. Many were his unofficial spokespersons. In the aftermath of the exercise, he went reclusively mute. No more grand speeches. No more talks that made him an enthralling appeal to young Nigerians and older folk like me. Media coverage of his activities isn’t attracting interest anymore. If Osinbajo does anything big and landmark now, it’s all behind closed doors. Virtual meetings have become his pastime. Although there are still pastors standing with him; they have expectedly shrunk in size and numbers. Opportunists have vanished like smoke. No more fake prophecies. No more Pentecostal razzmatazz. Men standing by Osinbajo today are true friends. And he will not forget this experience in a hurry. I was told by a few people who see him often that the reason Osinbajo kept to himself was because he was bruised by men during the process. In politics, people hurt people! who hurt Prof? We will know the specifics if and when he writes about his Aso Rock experience in a tome sometime in the future.
Tuesday was the first time I read about the VP meeting with progressive governors in Aso Rock. Some of the governors who promised him a cache of votes from all of their state delegates, and whose promises fell flat and foul, came face-to-face with him in the same room. What was the discussion like? Did they revisit the primaries? Politicians are cruel. They’ll lie to you; they’ll take your money, they’ll scream your name on TV and blast off on social media that you are the anointed, they’ll call you ‘Incoming’ this-and-that, they’ll lead you on, and then callously pull the rugs from under your feet and laugh as you languish in the inferno of unexpected wallop. Some of the pastors and prophets will even say to you: ‘thus saith the Lord.” when God has not spoken a word. Was that what happened to Prof? I don’t know. This VP was never a politician. Osinbajo just wanted to serve as he leads the people out of misery and mess. He believed that good people could make a difference in human lives. Politicians are mean creatures. Osinbajo will not forget them in a hurry.
Augustin Okeke is a lawyer friend of mine in Washington DC. He sent me this message after the APC Primaries: “If Osinbajo had won the APC nomination for president, I know that many well-meaning Igbo would have lined up to join his campaign. I would have signed up to work for him and contributed time and money to see him elected. I believe he is decent and would have made a very good president. It’s just that simple for Igbo like me. Unfortunately, he has learned the hard way that politics is not for decent people like him, at least for now. It is a zero-sum game where the fittest survive. I just feel bad for Nigeria because we lost a decent and capable leader who would bring about positive change in Nigeria.” I’ve known Augustin for almost 40 years. I believe him. Many people like Augustin who would have pitched their tents with Osinbajo if he had been picked as his party’s ambassador have now found love and hope for a greater Nigeria in Labour Party’s Peter Obi’s widening tent.
Many Nigerians were disappointed that in this election cycle, the country is losing out on a cerebrally endowed and good-natured human being like Osinbajo. I am sure that by now, he understands better the hearts of men in their unstableness. He now knows that hearts of men are deceitful and desperately wicked, no one can decipher it. I’m cocksure that he now knows that often, men don’t mean what they say, and they say only what they don’t mean. Osinbajo must have taken to heart Job 1:6 which alludes to life’s truth that even among good and Godly men who shout “Alleluia, Praise the lord” are children of Lucifer. Osinbajo must have now learnt not to trust wrong people to do the right thing in a system filled with stench, and where the love of, and mad dash for money rules the heart of men, is commonplace. Nigerians have not heard the last of Osinbajo in politics; a close friend of his assured me. But as regards politicians, Yemi Osinbajo will not forget some people in a hurry.
Twitter: @FolaOjotweet
