It has been a long while that any particular Nigerian leader has enjoyed the amount of love and respect that Vice President Osinbajo has enjoyed from Nigerians. And two of the attributes of the number two citizen that has endeared him to most people are his integrity and brilliance. The man is simply one of the most brilliant minds to ever occupy the office of the country’s vice president. Of course, as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a Professor of Law, what more could you possibly expect.
He has always been brilliant. He was the winner of the State Merit Award (1971); the School Prize for English Oratory (1972); Adeoba Prize for English Oratory (1972-1975); Elias Prize for Best Performance in History (WASC, 1973); School Prize for Literature (HSC, 1975); and African Statesman Intercollegiate Best Speaker’s Prize (1974) From 1997 to 1999 he was made Professor of Law and Head of Department of Public Law, University of Lagos. From 1999 to 2007, Osinbajo was a Member of Cabinet, Lagos State Ministry of Justice, also the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice. From 2007 to 2013, Osinbajo was once again employed as a Professor of Law, Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos. In 2007, Osinbajo was made Senior Partner, Simmons Cooper Partners (Barristers and Solicitors), Nigeria. Osinbajo was also a Senior lecturer at the Lagos State University.
According to his younger brother, Pastor Akin Osinbajo, who himself was a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Ogun State (2003 and 2011), the vice president, was an extremely serious-minded person when they were growing up. Hear him: ”He is an extremely brilliant and gifted person. He is somebody who has great integrity, who has impacted in every area that he had served all his life. Wherever he worked he has made very great impact. “We are five children, with one girl, who is the last of same father and mother. We have an elder brother. He is number two. And we have a younger brother before the girl, who is the last,” he added. “He has always been a very serious person, even when we were young. He was doing very well in school, coming home to study very well. He used to study very hard. We were very close. Even whenever we went to a party, he would come back home and study hard and perform very well in school. He was very disciplined and could be very hard on you if you are trying to go out of line. He is a disciplinarian.”
He also revealed that the quiet-looking gentleman we all love and adore has not always been a quiet person when he was much younger. “No! He was not the quiet type. He could argue from morning till night. He could argue on any topic. He was like our father when it comes to an argument. My father was somebody who liked great arguments. We are all used to arguing. We used to argue and fight a lot, you know, as brothers. But not the terrible fight, or the ones characterized with hatred. No! We love each other very much. It was those types of fights peculiar with children (laughed) You know. We were all brought up in a Christian home and trained in a Christian manner.”
In an interview with The Sun Newspapers sometime ago, Akin Osinbajo also revealed the prophetic side of his elder brother, the vice president, Yemi Osinbajo. Explaining that they are cousins to the Awolowos and shared how close they were to them as a family while they were young, he narrated how Professor Yemi Osinbajo had made pretty strong prophetic statements as a young boy. That was the one and only time he could remember his brother, the vice president, ever made any allusion or prediction to holding any top position of leadership someday. And it actually came to pass. Akin Osinbajo recalled: “During the visit to Mama HID Awolowo at Ikenne, she reminded my mother and His Excellency that when he (Yemi Osinbajo) was less than six years old and came to Ikenne with my mum and dad to visit Papa Awolowo then when Papa was the Premier of the Western region, he (Yemi) told Papa to hurry up and vacate the seat because he is already preparing to become Prime Minister. Mama HID said that day; Papa stood up, laughed and called everybody around that they should come and hear what this young boy is saying, he should hurry up to become whatever he wants to be, because he is already getting set to become Prime Minister.”
And indeed, over five decades after, that prophecy has come to pass. Today, that young Yemi Osinbajo is the Vice President of the federal republic of Nigeria. It would’ve been extremely fulfilling for the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, if he had lived long enough to see that young boy who once told him to hurry up his tenure as the Prime Minister of the Western Region become Vice President. He, Awolowo, never made it to become the country’s president as he desired, but he would’ve been more than happy to see someone from his lineage come up to occupy a position close to the one he had always dreamt of occupying, and that is the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
– WALE LAWAL
