The Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday asserted that he has been exposed to governance having served as the vice to President Muhammadu Buhari for the past seven years.
This is even as the Vice President, a presidential aspirant on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), declared that the unity of Nigeria was one of the most important things that the country needed.
Prof Osinbajo stated these when in Bauchi when he paid homage to the Emir of Bauchi, Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu, in his palace before meeting with APC delegates from Bauchi State to campaign ahead of the party’s presidential primary election.
The Vice President, who arrived the Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa International Airport in the state capital at about 11:45am, told the royal father that he was in the palace to inform him (Emir) of his (Osinbajo’s) intentions to run for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the 2023 elections as well to pay his respect to the traditional rulers and the entire Bauchi Emirate Council.
“Your Royal Highness, I have served as Vice President to President Muhammadu Buhari for the past seven years and with God helping us, I will see out that term till May 2023.
“But in that capacity, I have been exposed to governance of a complex and diverse level my office has allowed. Thanks very much to the openness and transparency of our President, Muhammadu Buhari.
“I have learnt a lot and I know that even during that period that I acted as President of this country, I was exposed to so much,” Osinbajo said.
He said the Buhari administration was concerned with the plight of the common man with a view to ensuring that he was given a fair chance to be employed and live a decent life.
According to him, this explained why the projects undertaken by the administration, especially its social investment programme, had been to better the life of the common man.
“At all times, the concern of our government is the plight of the common man, how to ensure that the common man is given a fair chance to be employed and to have a decent living.
“This is the reason why several of our projects that we have undertaken, especially the social investment programme, have been to better the life of the common man.
“But also, we have been concerned about young people; how we can improve, not just the quality of education of our young people, but the opportunity for young people to get jobs, to be employed and to have a decent standard of living. This is very important for us as a government.
“And this will also explain why I am running for the President of this country come February, 2023,” he said.
The Vice President said Nigeria was a diverse country with different religions, different ethnicities as well as people with different designs, saying that despite these, Nigerians had to be treated with fairness and Justice.
“We must treat everybody, every faith, every ethnicity with fairness and justice.
“And I believe that this is one of the reasons why it is important for us, even in putting ourselves forward for the position of President, to bear in mind that the unity of this country is one of the most important things that we need.
“The unity of this country is very, very crucial. There is no point trying to govern a country that is not united,” he said.
Osinbajo said his presidency would focus attention on the unity of the country and security.
According to him, “Our primary task is unity and security which is also very crucial; and these are issues that we are concerned with and which we are trying to deal with everyday.”
Responding, the royal father said Osinbajo’s visit to the palace despite coming to Bauchi for political activities showed “the love and respect you have for the traditional institution”.
While welcoming the Vice-President to Bauchi, Adamu said power belonged to Allah, who gave it to whoever he wanted, noting that as a traditional ruler, he could only advise politicians wisely.
“We believe that power belongs to Allah and He gives it to whoever He wants and at the same time, by virtue of our position, we are not politicians, we can’t participate in politics but we only advise wisely.
“We pray that whatever you are here to do today in Bauchi State is fruitful. Whatever will bring unity and peace in our country is what we are after,” the Emir said.
