Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that the position of he currently occupies coupled with occasional experience of acting presidency have prepared him ahead for the job of being Nigeria’s next president.
Osinbajo stated this in Akure, the Ondo State capital while on a visit to Deji, Oba Aladelusi Ogunlade Aladetoyinbo.
The Vice President said, “As we approach the coming elections, it is a time also for us to reflect on the type of leadership that we want for our country.
“I have served for the past seven years as the Vice President of Nigeria, and I have also acted within that period when the President was away. I think that I am fortunate, and we are fortunate to have been given tremendous opportunities to serve, also even when I acted (as President).
“In that capacity, I am probably the only person trained to be (in that duration), because if you have been a Vice President and also as Acting President, then you have been trained, and I must say with utmost humility – that that is exactly how I feel.”
Osinbajo said he feels that with what God has given him within the past seven and half years, he must be able to give back to Nigeria.
“People die for this country every day,” he said adding “there are young men and women, soldiers who die for this country every day. “That is the greatest act of loyalty that one can have for one’s country. Those of us whom God has given some opportunities to serve must be prepared to offer that service whenever we are called upon to do so.”
The monarch, while praying for the his success, “had it been it we’re in advanced countries, in all of the APC, nobody would run (for president), they would all just support you.”
Speaking earlier during a meeting with the Ondo State Governor Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, members of the State House of Assembly, State Executive Council members and the APC leaders in Ondo State, Osinbajo noted that he was privileged to serve in different capacities, and undertake major responsibilities as VP and Acting President because of President Muhammadu Buhari’s generosity and open-mindedness towards him.
He said, “In those capacities as VP and acting president in particular, I got to know so many things that many people would never have ever have come across, and I gained a lot of experience on that account. Now, the opportunity has come.”
According to the VP, it would be a disservice to the nation on his part not to utilize the wealth of experience he has garnered over the years to further serve the nation in the highest capacity.
“With the experience I have, the contacts and connections that I have made, locally and internationally, I think that it would be a betrayal to our country, to our nation, not to accept to serve the country. If with all that has been given to me by the grace of God, with all of my experiences, to say that, oh, I will now retire quietly either to Lagos or Ikenne, and go and be writing my memoirs; it would be a grave injustice to our country.
“That is why I decided to pour my heart into it, and ensure that I make up this case for the position of president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And I believe that with God helping, if God gives us the opportunity, and the will of the people also, God will make it happen; I will have the opportunity to give this nation the very best that I can give, with all of our hearts, in everything that we can, with sincerity, openness and transparency. That is the desire of my heart,” Osinbajo stated
Akeredolu, while responding, recalled that the emergence of Prof. Osinbajo in 2014 as APC Vice Presidential candidate was purely a divine thing.
He added that it is God who ultimately decides who gets what position. He disclosed that the VP and himself had been friends and colleagues for a long while before politics.