ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – A Niger Delta rights group, the Niger Delta Youth Movement (NDYM) has advised Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to desist from his continuing abuse of former President Goodluck Jonathan, stressing that his unguarded actions were unpresidential and ridiculed the office of the nation’s number two citizen.
The group in a statement jointly signed by its president, Comrade Joe Jackson and national secretary Comrade Amakuro Isaac, counseled the Osinbajo step up to the standards set by former Vice Presidents who they claimed were more dignified in office.
The group, in the statement sent to Sundiata Post on Monday, was responding to Osinbajo’s claim that the Jonathan administration withdrew large sums of money ahead of the 2015 elections said:
“One thing is clear; a Vice President who takes pleasure in constantly maligning and abusing the former occupier of the highest office in the land only projects himself as an unserious man who has no respect for his boss and the exalted office of the President.
“We note painfully that Osinbajo has failed to step up to the standards established by the likes of Chief Alex Ekwueme, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and Arch. Namadi Sambo, who were all reputable former Vice Presidents. To be able to match their reputation, he has to first purge himself of the spirit of lying, and wean himself of that foul and pedestrian language that is unbefitting of a Vice President.”
The full statement reads:
VICE PRESIDENT OSINBAJO SHOULD STOP PROPAGANDA AGAINST AND FACE GOVERNANCE
Our attention has been drawn to a recent statement by Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, while speaking in Abuja last Monday at the legislative economic summit, where he accused the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan of recording no key achievements in the areas of infrastructure. He was also quoted to have alleged that huge sums of security money were paid out from government coffers, few weeks before the 2015 Presidential elections.
We note that this new outburst is coming on the heels of similar misleading claims, by Osinbajo at a recent religious event in Lagos, where he first dropped thesame allegations and unverified figures.
Given the way he has been repeatedly peddling erroneous information, we are left with no other choice than rise to stoutly debunk the Vice President’s persistent pattern of lying against the Government of President Jonathan.
First, we want to point out that Osinbajo’s unguarded outbursts have been anything but Presidential, an unconscionable trash-talking, quite unbecoming of a man that occupies the second most important political office in the country.
The latest outburst from Professor Osinbajo, is consistent with the litany of lies he has continued to unashamedly dish out to unsuspecting Nigeria public.
Many Nigerians will recall many other falsehood he had voiced out at various times including:
That the Jonathan administration spent $15bn on arms procurement.
That the Governments of Jonathan and that of late President Umaru Yar’Adua didn’t build a single road in ten years!
That Boko Haram occupied 20 of the 27 Local Government Areas in Borno State at the time APC Government came on board
That recession was caused by the past administration
We will not bother responding to some of these wild allegations since most Nigerians are as flabbergasted, as we are, by their inanity. But for others, we will still seek to offer some clarifications, despite the fact that they are plain disingenuous fabrications.
We speak with certainty that the Jonathan administration’s records in infrastructural development, whether in the areas of road and rail, power, information technology or schools, some of which had been confirmed by Osinbajo’s own ministers, are self evident; and have remained the best in the last two decades. Beyond his numerous roads and rail projects, including the $1.8 billion Abuja-Kaduna 187-kilometre super-fast railway, the Abuja light rail and other rail projects in the six geopolitical zones, the Jonathan administration also built schools, universities, and power plants.
Curiously, Osinbajo has continued to raise wide and baseless allegations of an embezzled $15 billion security equipment fund, without any piece of evidence. Again, we state that this fits into the kind of loose and pedestrian talk that is way beneath the level of a Vice President, especially as he is in a good position to know that the security equipment component of President Jonathan’s entire five years defence budget was far less than the figure he is quoting.
Let us even assume but without conceding that the Jonathan Government spent huge sums of money on security to restore peace during those tense and testing moments ahead of the 2015 elections; does that require the Vice President to go to town with doctored details of a President’s security spending? Who does that? Why hasn’t the same Vice President published details of Buhari’s Security budget in the last two years?
It is clear that whenever Osinbajo has nothing important to say to his audience, he would launch an empty tirade, and resort to mentioning fabulous sums of money, either purportedly mismanaged by the previous administration, or spent by his own Government. Few weeks ago he lied even against himself by claiming that the Buhari Administration spent $2 billion dollars (equivalent of about N720 billion naira) on the Second Niger Bridge, when the actual amount recorded to have been paid out by the Government for the project was only N2 billion.
It is sad that a Vice President will indulge in a spree of unending lies and fabrications. What really is his motive? What will he gain from it? Is it because of his hatred for former President Jonathan? How long will he continue to tell these lies?
If the VP was really interested in discussing corruption in Nigeria, why was he conveniently silent on the following scandals that have plagued the Buhari Administration under his watch?
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) IDPs grass-cutting contract saga
The $25 Billion NNPC contract saga which passed through his table
The Mainagate
Missing dates and other supplies for IDPs
The MTN Saga
The $43 million NIA saga
Why was Osinbajo, even as a pastor, still silent on the reprehensible persecution of Nigerian Christians in the hands of Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, Kaduna militia raids, etc.
In the past two and a half years, all of the Vice President’s speeches had relentlessly centred on corruption allegations against the previous government. However, as they say in the good old quip, Osinbajo is only good at finger pointing, without realizing that three more of his fingers are pointing back, accusingly, at him.
Can he earnestly say that he has never been involved in corrupt practices nor benefitted from the proceeds of corruption, since assuming office as the Vice President? Can he claim that he is not aware that some top officials of the administration were complicit in the hiding and disbursement of NIA money of which the remainder of $43 millions was recently discovered by EFCC in an Ikoyi apartment in Lagos? Can Osinbajo also claim not to know that there is widespread bribery and corruption going on in the MDAs? Can any government contractor be paid these days by the ministry of finance, for instance, without the company parting with 20-40% of the sum? Has Osinbajo not heard of the scandals linked to the Paris Club refunds? Is he blind to what the FIRS staff are being accused of doing? He should tell us which MDA in this Government is clean, including the office of the Vice President!
From all indications, the VP, like the ostrich, prefers to feign ignorance of the high volume of corruption going on in his own Government. We wish to point out that he has never for once spoken out against the unprecedented skewed pattern of appointments, which we believe, will eventually see this Government go down in history as the most nepotic and tribalistic government from 1914 till date.
Osinbajo’s silence over the murder in cold blood of a housewife and fellow pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), by muslim fundamentalists in Abuja, has continued to echo loudly in the conscience of fellow christians.
Vice President Osinbajo should be reminded that by December 31st 2017, this Government would have implemented three successive budgets. Except they are re-elected, the only remaining one for this government to implement is the 2018 budget. In case he does not know, the 2019 budget will be implemented by the next government.
In 2015 the Buhari Government inherited a budget of N4.493 trillion, and initiated a supplementary budget ofN574bn; bringing the total to N5.06 trillion. In 2016 the budget stood at 6.07 trillion, while in 2017 it was N7, 44 trillion. Let us not forget that from 2015 to 2017, this Government has spent N18.57 trillion!
Can Pastor Osinbajo look his Christian gathering in the eye and tell them what the Federal Government has done with these trillions. Even his claim that “our capital spend in 2016 was close to N1.3trillion, the highest yet in the country’s history”, only floats in the air, because there are no facts on the ground to justify that.
An activist Asari Dokubo recently described the Vice President as a person with a PhD in telling lies. Similarly, while reacting a year ago to Osinbajo’s false claim that Boko Haram occupied 20 of the 27 Local Government Areas in Borno State at the time his Government came on board, Reno Omokri, former media aide to ex-President Jonathan had pointed it out to the Vice President that the election that produced both the APC presidency and Borno State Governor, held in all the local government areas in the state.
We note painfully that Osinbajo has failed to step up to the standards established by the likes of Chief Alex Ekwueme, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and Arch. Namadi Sambo, who were all reputable former Vice Presidents. To be able to match their reputation, he has to first purge himself of the spirit of lying, and wean himself of that foul and pedestrian language that is unbefitting of a Vice President.
One thing is clear; a Vice President who takes pleasure in constantly maligning and abusing the former occupier of the highest office in the land only projects himself as an unserious man who has no respect for his boss and the exalted office of the President.
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