How Osinbajo Lost Polling Unit

How Osinbajo lost polling unit

Irohinoodua has obtained reliable information on what led to the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo losing his VGC polling unit.

Special Adviser on Political Affairs, Senator Babafemi Ojudu provides the insight..

In
a period of two months he must have visited VGC more than fifteen
times. Town hall meeting here, parlor meeting there and street walk
there. He met with professionals and engaged resident associations just
as he dialogued with people of faith.
At the end of the elections they will still not let him deliver his unit.
I have received many calls and text messages asking what happened? It is not far fetched.

It
is a combination of ethnicity, elite mentality and living in the midst
of people who the policies of the administration does not favor.

As
we held those meetings I saw it coming and remarked to colleagues that
coming to VGC and appealing to the voters there was a waste of time. I
could see it in their utterances, in their body language.

The
bile was palpable and in some cases you could perceive hostility.
Osinbajo , as we have known, is a never say die person. He dug at it
with severity of a tunnel digger with the believe that there will be
light at the end.

At the last meeting he had ,which was on the
Wednesday before the initial February 19th election day I slipped away
and went to have a rest in the hotel so as to be stronger for the
following tasks ahead.

Only an Osinbajo would depart Uyo for
Lagos at 9.00 pm after a hard day campaign Plateau State and Akwa Ibom
and take an arduous ride through the Lekki traffic to VGC from the
airport sometimes for one and half hours and still go and address a
motley crowd of thirty residents.

Those engagements were for
me a spectacle. I am easily irritated. Many of us his aides were
disgusted. Not Osinbajo who will take his time taking all manners of
questions and sometimes subtle and not so subtle insults.

There
were cases of some fellows who had nothing to say than “Osinbajo you
have come now and you didn’t bring kola how do you want us to vote for
you again”, Kola in the local parlance meaning money or bribe. And this
is a supposed elite location. I was shocked hearing this.

Some said since he was elected they expected him to have donated a mini stadium to VGC.

Some
wanted him to have solved there problem of flooding. A fellow said he
and Buhari stand blamed for the loss of his first child who died when
his pregnant wife walked into an electrified flood water in his house.
One expressed disgust at his men parking in front of his gate.

Another accused him of lying that the 3rd Niger Bridge project has taken
off. Every effort to convince him was ignored and he kept interjecting
until he moved on to other topics.

He took all of this with
calmness and gave time , hours at a time, explaining government
policies: why the administration is fighting corruption and why Nigeria
must not depend on imports from other nations and the infrastructural
projects going on across Nigeria.

All of this was like pouring water on the back of a calabash for some.

To
be honest there were a handful who were civil and patriotic. Some
others were sympathetic and could reason with the logic of his
presentation and the sincerity of his purpose. I could hear the voices
of many too who shared his dream of a greater Nigeria. A Nigeria where
the leaders pursue the good of the majority as opposed to the minority.

Many suggested great ideas and offered criticisms that could help sharpen policy. Some offered to join the Osinbajo train.

Some
too were taken in by his humility and understanding of the problem. A
particular person right there then sought to have an account number to
which he could pay a donation and a few others must have too.

Some were generous, offering us snacks and drinks to wet our parched throats.

Most
were however new money, importers of all manners of things ,
beneficiaries of the abuse the Buhari administration was dedicated to
stamping out . Many others were driven mainly by ethnic hatred.

This , however ,is understandable. Even in America many still made their political choices based on colour of the skin.

The majority of the British who voted for Brexit did so because of
aversion for the Eastern Europeans who come to their country to seek a
better life not minding the harm such a decision will do to the economy
of their country.

Good or bad every voter has the right to the choice he makes. No one can deprive him of that. That is the essence of democracy.

It was easy therefore to see that this was a battle this ajantala would not win. I knew they were not going to vote for him.

He
was however relentless and persistent invoking the tenacity that has
taken him to the height he has reached in life today; best grade in
secondary school, a first class in the university and lecturer at the
age of 23, a professor of law, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, (SAN) an
exceptional Attorney General in Lagos for eight years and an
accomplished Vice President of Nigeria for close to four years now.

Yes Osinbajo lost the vote in his neighborhood of VGC. VGC is not his constituency. Certainly not.

He could easily have gone to vote in Ikenne , his ancestral home where he is deeply loved and reverred.

He
could have queued to vote in the Somolu area of Lagos where he was born
and raised and where his aged mother lived and was adored .

He
could still have chosen to cast his vote in Akoka , on the premises of
University of Lagos where he taught and thought for many years and his
unit could have embraced him and give him a landslide victory but
Osinbajo is one who never runs away from a problem. He will dig his
teeth in it until he is able to bite through.

Knowing him he will not quit VGC until he is able to make the new money residents see reason.

Left
to me he ought to move his base to that glorious abode of late Obafemi
Awolowo , a place of history , a community that is synonymous with
progressive politics and intellectual pursuit.

By the way I am
told that the small town has produced up to thirteen Senior Advocates of
Nigeria,(SAN) more than most states of Nigeria has produced.

The
VP remains grateful to the VGC voters that placed the interests of the
society above parochial considerations. They have proved to be the glow
of light in the dark. There have demonstrated their commitment to
logic and common sense. For those who took a different pathway,
definitely in the nearest future, they will come to realise that history
and prosperity will put Osinbajo on the scale as a righteous man who
stood for the greatest good of the greatest number