By Dr John Adanike, Esq. LLB
There is no gainsaying the fact that loyalty is crucial to the development of relationship between two individuals, or individuals and parties, institutions, or any human organization.
Whether one employs the idea to achieve either positive or negative results, one thing is certain, there are gainers and losers. Whether the person, to whom loyalty is directed appreciates it, is another ball game.
In the case of Nigeria, the up-coming general elections, provide a litmus test for so many to demonstrate if what they have is loyalty to individuals or to their fatherland.
Naturally, everyone to whom one form of kindness or the other has been shown or who has enjoyed largesse from someone superior, is expected to reciprocate these gestures with loyalty. Man’s quest for loyalty is innate.
It is against this background that one would like to single out Prof. Yemi Osinbajo whose unalloyed loyalty to the Nigerian people, is widely acclaimed and his love for fatherland is incontestable. It is not unlikely that this nationalistic tendency is being challenged by those who’ll rather place loyalty to one individual over and above loyalty to his fatherland. To these people, PYO ought to naturally concede the presidency to his godfather, irrespective of numerous socio-political baggage of the latter.
Interestingly, the body language of PYO seems to suggest going to the river to fish for himself rather than being handed a piece of fish occasionally, by his former master. He seems to believe that unwavering loyalty to the more than 200 million Nigerians will yield more dividend than to a few selfish countrymen, who are ready to sulk the country dry because of their parochial interests.
In fact, PYO’s loyalty to his boss cannot be disputed. In all his official engagements, particularly, where he has gone to represent the President, loyalty has always been his watchword. Even when his principal was away on medical holidays, the Vice President performed his functions dutifully and did not outstep his boundaries. He has always served his principal and the country the best way he knows how.
Outside the countries where he has represented the president, he has demonstrated not only loyalty to his principal, but has also exhibited his love for his ethnic culture. It is commonplace to see him in his Yoruba traditional flowing Agbada. He never pretends to be a proud Yoruba man.
As a progressive and a peace-loving Nigerian, PYO has shown his loyalty and “Omoluwabi,” by always playing by the rules, especially in the perennial absences of his principal. Although some may consider this a political naiveté, this has nevertheless, seen him through the seven years of political murky waters.
A progressive per excellence. He is a legal colossus, whose legal sagacity, as Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, was instrumental in the matchless progress and development of Lagos State, under his former boss, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He is a man of amity and consensus, whose firm belief in the rule of law is unquestionable. A man of indubitable honesty and unassailable integrity, whose sense of justice for all is infectious.
Faced with all manner of political intrigues and temptations, yet he remains loyal and stands by his principal like a rock of Gibraltar. If half of Nigerian politicians demonstrate the type of loyalty that PYO has exhibited to his superiors over the years, the country would have joined the comity of developed nations. Vice- President Yemi Osibajo no doubt, is a rare divine gift whose skills cannot and must not be jettisoned on the altar of politicking. This is the man we present to Nigerians as the next President of the Federal Republic.
God save Nigeria.