The APC Vice Presidential candidate, Prof Yemi Osinbajo has been all over the place campaigning for change. In less than two weeks after his selection was announced, he has eclipsed his boss, the General, as far as media coverage is concerned.
In that space of time, the Professor Pastor has visited Palms shopping mall, BRT corridors, Obalende and his latest stop OLAMIDE LIVE IN CONCERT. Smiling for the cameras, and canvassing support for the APC candidacy from the general electorate. Meanwhile all we have heard from the General is that his certificates are with the Army.
APC should not be a hard product to sell, considering the disaffection with the PDP, but a lot of Nigerians are not really convinced that this change is all its propped up to be. So Osinbajo hits the street with a narrative it would seem, but all that has really emerged from the street tour is a photo op session.
Some young voters seem to think he’s trying too hard, and are wondering if his boss, Buhari has gone into hiding and left the campaigning for the younger, more able bodied Osinbajo to handle.
There are even some reports surfacing about the General’s health, the word in some circles is that the General is not in tip-top shape and that Obasanjo and Tinubu are plotting to foist another Yar’adua type situation on Nigerians.
Whatever the case may be, Osinbajo, a Redeemed pastor, is not hitting home with many Nigerians. Some of us believe that he is just another propaganda spitting politician who has crafted his oratory skills as a pastor, and is nothing much to write home about. There are even those who say he was very instrumental to the setting up of the legal framework that created and empowered the Tinubu dynasty vastly more than create an enabling environment for Lagosians.
In a recent press statement, he said only Nigerians who like hunger would vote to re-elect President Jonathan. What the Pastor Professor did not say in his statement is that under President Jonathan, the cost of food stuffs had not only reduced but become more widely available. Nigeria has become self-sufficient in rice and is said to be the number one producer of yams in the world. Dangote and other leading Nigerian industrialists are investing billions of dollars in Agric and Agro-Allied industries.
Maybe the Professor and the rest of the APC Presidential Campaign machinery need to sit down and re-organize their thoughts and revisit the campaign trails. Many Nigerians see beyond the propaganda, and are sophisticated enough to understand that Jonathan has many achievements under his belt, although the lackluster performance in security has dulled the impact of so many of his achievements.
However it would be foolhardy to believe that Nigerians want a candidate from a region that is in disarray to preside over the affairs of the entire nation.
I remember when President Jonathan went into the creeks unarmed to negotiate with the militants, many whom have turned into his allies today and friends of a Nigerian nation they feel more integrated within.
Is there any elder Northern statesman, including the General, who took it upon himself to try and get Boko Haram to stop waging war against the country?
Personally I would have voted Buhari in February, if he had made a single attempt to curtail Northern violence in the past four years. He did nothing of note, and expects that we should vote him in 2015 as he has the master plan.
He should think again, and whilst the Pastopreneur runs around Lagos or Timbuktu canvassing the votes of ordinary Nigerians, he should remind us again of how the policies that govern Lagos and emanate from his benefactor in Bourdillion are not enrichening a few at the expense of the many.
So the question begs to be asked, “WHAT MANNER OF CHANGE?”