How the Nigerian Acting President, Pastor Osinbajo is making a difference within few days as acting president
'When the righteous prospers, the 'nation' rejoices....
Proverbs 11:10
Proverbs 11:10
Coming at a time of looming crisis over the present 'money failure' or recession in Nigeria, especially the threatened strike by a Nigerian musician Tu face that got the authorities unnerved, Pastor Osinbajo, known formerly on the pulpit at the Redemption Camp as well as as the Lagos State Attorney General, handled it in such a manner that frayed nerves were temporarily calmed.....Nigerians, we hear you loud and clear he said. This easily brings to mind the Rehoboam episode in scriptures.....Rehoboam heeded the advice of the young men and declared....My Father chastised you with whips, I will chastise you with scorpions....1 Kings 12:14, the result......Israel became a divided nation.....Osinbajo in this instance decided to heed the advice of the elders and went ahead to sit with the labour leaders at the head of the protest. ....the nation was calmed. This first major assignment was dealt with skillfully....wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times.... Isaiah 33:6.
How has the hand and wisdom of God manifested in this servant of his?
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo seems a deep thinker. He is not just a professor of law but seems to realise that the warmest teachers teach better. Being warm and good natured is not a sign of weakness but one of strength and that seems the case with Osinbajo.
In the last couple of weeks, Prof. Osinbajo has visited some states which could be considered unfriendly zones". He visited Anambra to see the Car Factory and was in Abia to see the shoe and garment makers.
During the build up to the Tu Face protest, security men talked tough but he spoke and all nerves were calmed. He said it clearly that the people have a right to peaceful protest.
He has been in Rivers twice in one month, Bayelsa and Delta also. He sat down with the Governor, leaders and people of Rivers to talk, he then went flagging off projects executed by the state government.
These visits had a sudden impact. For the first time, the Governor of Rivers spoke warmly of the federal government and the need for strategic collaboration. The Acting President had warmed up to his people, irrespective of their political differences. Politics stopped and leadership took over.
Leadership in the style of Yemi Osinbajo is warm, kind and courteous as well as firm and principled. By his body language, he has instilled confidence and a sense of belonging in the people he is leading. It is usually difficult in Nigeria for one to seek rapprochement with those who rejected him during elections. Osinbajo has handled that 'banana peel' with all wisdom. Little wonder, he pastored the 'Banana Island' Parish of the RCCG (Olive Tree) before his present position of service.
Leaders are patient and very understanding. Good leadership doesn't just consist in building roads and fighting corruption. Good leaders also build bridges of friendship and national cohesion. They fight disunity by their utterances and body language.
Good leaders must have the capacity to multi task.
In the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari, Osinbajo led the FEC meeting and forced ministers to deliberate for seven hours! It is the longest meeting ever under this administration. While in Rivers state also, Osinbajo declared that the Federal Government would work with illegal refineries and help convert them to modular refineries. It was a statement utterly applauded.
A major issue left unhandles before the departure of the President was the matter of the lack of confirmation of the Acting Chief Justice. The judiciary bayed for blood and watched as the deadline approached. All kinds of insinuations arose. Eventually the matter disappeared as quickly as it came when Justice Walter On other's name was forwarded without any noise. .......
By Wisdom Kings reign and Princes decree justice.....Proverbs 8:15-16.
Professor Yemi Osinbajo has not healed a broken economy, tamed inflation, improved power, or engineered a miraculous infrastructural renaissance. He has not dealt a final, decisive blow to Boko Haram.
What he has done however is to introduce a new temperament into governance, a new civility, a new ability to clearly articulate the trajectory and anticipated outcomes of governing decisions. The new clarity is refreshing, as is the new decisiveness. More importantly, Pastor Osinbajo has brought a tone of empathy and humility into presidential pronouncements. He has brought a culture of outreach, conciliation, and deliberation to the management of the familiar tensions and fault lines of the country; a new sensitivity and a willingness to listen rather than lecture.
Osinbajo, husband to the granddaughter of the late Sage, Obafemi Awolowo, has been humble, sensitive, paternal, empathetic, and lucid. His words have been marked with sympathetic understanding.
When the #IstandwithNigeria protests occurred, Osinbajo tweeted and granted interviews in which he expressed sympathy with the marchers and with Nigerians suffering and groaning in this challenged economy. He acknowledged that Nigerians deserve better, that the government takes responsibility for the situation, and that it is its job to bring relief and recovery. Osinbajo has shown that, no matter how ferocious the oppositional agitation may be, a leader cannot and should not take it personal, and that in some cases what the agitators are looking for is simply to be heard and shown empathy.
Senator Ben Murray Bruce, a Nigerian politician from the opposition soon raised alarm over the N250m gate for the new vice presidential official accomodation. The Acting President side stepped it with his witty response.....the present residence was okay for him and another purpose will be found for the new facility. Again, there was calm.
Osinbajo has carried on with grace and dignity building a momentum that the country can cash in and accelerate to regain lost mileage. In an era when many government officials are facing several corruption allegations, he brings some fresh air and credibility.
The most recent testimony however of this period of Pastor Osinbajo's Acting Presidency is the recovery of the local currency against the dollar, stemming the continuous plunge.
As the Dollar continues to fall freely at the parallel market following the Forex intervention by the Federal Government, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce sarcastically advised Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo to teach his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari his 'magic'.
The dollar traded between N400 to N460 at the parallel market as at Friday, February 24th, 2017 as against N517 to a dollar just the previous week.
Only very recently, the Financial Times of London commented on governance in Nigeria since the President left the country over 33 days ago, and concluded that Osinbajo, had seized Buhari’s absence to deliver what Nigerians had been expecting for two years.
In all, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, has declared that successes achieved by Yemi Osinbajo while the President is away on medical vacation is a “milestone of the Buhari administration.”
And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.
1 Chronicles 12:32
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