National News
The political hack called Tunde Odesola & Osinbajo
By Mustapha Olatunji
In today’s world, fake news, misinformation and disinformation appear to be the order of the day and platforms, especially the media, that are supposed to protect and share the truth, have become the purveyors of fake news. The Punch media outfit is a classic example.
The latest offering on the platform of Punch Newspaper comes from a certain Tunde Odesola whose attempt to put his murky thoughts into words makes for a torturous read. But this is what is expected of bloggers, most of whom lack the basic ethics of journalism. Even Odesola, who used to be a reporter has certainly forgotten that facts are sacred. Or did he just chose to lie?
Not only did this Odesola fellow fail to convey his thoughts but he also used the opportunity to beat around the bush including apologising profusely to Pastor E.A. Adeboye and his family on behalf of Sunday Ighobo. But again, show me your friends and I will tell you who you are.
But more importantly was that Odesola showed how callow and sparse his knowledge of government, even worse was his lacklustre position on foreign policy and relations.
A student or Elementary Government in the Junior Secondary School level will exude more understanding of this subject matter.
For the sake of continental and global readers, it is expedient that I spell out the difference between Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s profession as a lawyer, and his role as the Vice President.
For starters, the Vice President never applauded President Museveni, this was made up due to Odesola’s desperation to tell lies. If this is not true, Odesola should provide proof of where the VP said anything like that.
This lie defines him as a political hack pretending to be an independent, even, constructive critic, an impression he labored rather desperately to create but failed sumptuously at it.
The Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has often represented Nigeria at the inauguration of continental leaders. He represented Nigeria in Liberia for the inauguration ceremony of George Weah; In South Africa for the inauguration of Cyril Ramaphosa; in Gambia for the inauguration of Adama Barrow and very recently he represented Nigeria at Sierra Leone’s 60th anniversary, to mention but a few, all in his capacity as Vice President and not as a law lecturer or Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
Secondly, Uganda is a sovereign state and the elections that gave President Yoweri Museveni his fifth-term as President was not conducted by Nigeria or the Independent National Electoral Commission, so in what capacity should the Vice President have acted differently?
Attending an inauguration of a friendly country is not necessarily a sign of validation of any perceived inconsistent or undemocratic conduct, there is a good age-long relationship between Nigeria and Uganda that overrides current political leaders and their perceived impishness.
As a student of history, may I point out to Odesola that it was Ugandan legislators who voted to amend the country’s constitution to allow 73-year-old leader Yoweri Museveni to extend his rule, potentially guaranteeing him a life-time presidency the same way Russia passed a referendum allowing Vladimir Putin to remain in office until 2036 after serving for more than two decades, we also have some African leaders who served for more than three decades, the likes of Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea who is referred to as the longest serving president having served for 41 years, President Sassou Nguesso of Congo who spent 36 years in office.
I don’t understand why Odesola is fuming about why Osinbajo attended Uganda inauguration which he attended on the directive of his boss and as a result of the diplomatic relationship that exists between both countries and not their leaders.
At this point, I find it humanitarian to educate the writer; Prof. Osinbajo is currently the Vice President of Nigeria. He is not a law or election analyst and it is not in his functions that he should comment on the election of other countries.
We have had Vice Presidents in the past and they all had careers before they became Vice President but no one ever asked why they did not speak or act based on their profession.
The main contender of the 2019 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was a former senior Customs Officer but hacks like Odesola never thought it opinion-worthy to ask him why he never condemned the Customs when he was Vice President for eight years.
What about Goodluck Jonathan who is an academic or Namadi Sambo who is an architect? The question is simple, where is the ignorance coming from and why is Punch newspaper the vehicle? Or is this a deliberate attempt by half-baked bloggers to tarnish the reputation of a good man?
Any in any case if Odesola feels Osinbajo has let him down, let him look beyond his nose and discover that over 500,000 Npower beneficiaries in this country, millions more who were blessed by the Social Investment programmes of this government and the hundreds of thousands of MSMES thank God for the VP’S role in the government. Let us also remind Odesola, the once upon a time reporter that Osinbajo stood firmly on the Rule of Law when he condemned police brutality even as number 2 way ahead of EndSars. Pray we ask him what was Osinbajo doing when he ensured that judicial panels are sitting all over this country on the matter of EndSars and redressing other forms of human rights violations against Nigerians.
Nigerians must be wary of wolves in sheep clothing who will not only sell their souls but are willing to drag others on their way down.
Mr Olatunji, a political commentator writes from Abuja.
