The Vice President was at a nondenominational conference organized by the Covenant Christian Center where he spoke about how he became the running mate of President Muhammadu Buhari, how they decided on the change mantra and why they are like-minded.
He said that himself and the President were both committed to fighting corruption. He recalled earlier times and how he started out.
He said: “Permit me to begin (the speech) with a story about myself. All my adult life, I have always believed that our country was performing far below its potentialities, in practically every aspect of life.
“In governance, corruption was always so outrageous that it made the majority poor and development almost impossible. Law and order was always a problem, usually no consequence for wrong-doing. ‘’Doing business and even our daily existence have always been difficult, no power, no fuel. Getting anything
‘’Doing business and even our daily existence have always been difficult, no power, no fuel. Getting anything done in government establishments, a nightmare of delay and extortion. “So as a conscious decision, I joined various pressure groups. From human rights groups to good governance advocacy groups. In 1995, I co- founded an organization called Integrity, an anti-corruption organization. I joined various think tanks and professional groups, including the Concerned Professionals.”
“So as a conscious decision, I joined various pressure groups. From human rights groups to good governance advocacy groups. In 1995, I co- founded an organization called Integrity, an anti-corruption organization. I joined various think tanks and professional groups, including the Concerned Professionals.”
He also narrated how a lot of advocates from the Concerned Professionals suffered under the Abacha regime and how they were once beaten at the Yaba bus stop bringing an end to some of them showing up.
He expressed his surprise at being called nominated to run with President Buhari in 2014. He also stated that he’d always been impressed with the President’s zero tolerance for corruption and that providence had brought them together making it possible for them to fight side by side.
He said they agreed on a lot of things and that Nigeria needed change. “We both believed that our country needed to change. We argued about how and what needed to be done. We reached consensus on many of the major issues.
‘’Certainly our country need a different set of values; a new way of doing business; an economy that is able to give opportunity to young people to work in their chosen professions and to build strong and profitable businesses. We knew that we had to provide social protection for the poorest and the most vulnerable.
“We recognised that innovation and change will be key, and that we must implement and not just talk about diversification of our economy. So we led our party’s campaign on that single, simple, but profound word, CHANGE!
“Nearly a year on- there are many problems and many have asked where is the change? Is this the change we voted for? Even some fifth columnists in our midst have suggested bring back corruption! “But let me just say here for the records that the government of Muhammadu Buhari is completely and irrevocably committed to change.”
VP Osinbajo was optimistic as he stated that even though the situation was not ideal and that early signs have shown that things could be difficult, but that this was the best opportunity to really effect change and make the nation a better place.
He spoke in glowing terms of President Buhari stating that in him Nigeria had a leader that was ready to change the status quo and who was ready to kill corruption.
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