Remo Omokri, former special assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on new media, has stated that Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, is better than President Muhammadu Buhari in governing Nigeria.
He also likened Osinbajo to the late Major General (rtd) Tunde Idiagbon.
Idiagbon, as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, was second in command to President Muhammadu Buhari when the latter was military head of state between 1983 and 1985.
Idiagbon formulated, enforced many of the government policies and spearheaded the national campaign called the War Against Indiscipline (WAI).
In an article on Saturday titled ‘Yemi Osinbajo: When an Acting President acts well’, Reno commended Osinbajo for his handling of state affairs in the absence of Buhari.
He said: “His approach to the Niger Delta challenge is an approach of intelligence and diplomacy and will achieve far more than President Buhari’s shock and awe approach!
“The man approached the region with compassion and understanding, not with threats and bluster as his boss did when he had the chance. He physically visited and toured the region whereas his principal made promises to visit but chickened out when the time came to implement his promises.
“Professor Osinbajo spoke kindly and respectfully to the governors of the region and praised them for their efforts, even giving one of them the pet name, ‘Mr. Projects’.
“Is it any surprise then that oil production has continued to rise and militancy has waned in the period that Vice President Osinbajo has been acting?
“The man speaks to Nigerians as a leader should. He does not talk at us like the President. He talks to us.
“I may have issues with what he said to the protesting labour leaders but I am still impressed that he met them, listened to them and was courteous to them.
“And look at his Kennedyesque response to the #IStandWithNigeria protesters: ‘To those who are protesting, WE HEAR YOU loud and clear.’ He sounded like JFK in Berlin on June 26, 1963 saying to the oppressed people of that iron-curtain enclave, “Ich bin ein Berliner”!
“You see, he is a remarkably poised Acting President! Even if you do not like him, you must respect Vice President Osinbajo.
“President Buhari can stay back in London or any foreign city that catches his fancy, all he wants – waiting for tests and taking phone calls. With Osinbajo acting for him, Nigerians do not miss him!
“In fact, he can turn his vacation into a sabbatical if he so pleases. We have tasted civility and are in no hurry to return to the barbarity meted out to the Shiites, IPOB protesters, Rann Internally Displaced Persons and sundry other protesters in the recent past.
“From his actions since President Muhammadu Buhari travelled to London this January, there is no doubt in my mind that Vice President Osinbajo knows the whereabouts of all his academic certificates!
“Even when President Muhammadu Buhari returns, I would advise him to make Vice President Osinbajo the face of his government in just the way that the late Major General (rtd) Tunde Idiagbon was the face of his first incarnation.
“Recall that Nigerians so loved Idiagbon and that it was when Idiagbon travelled that that regime collapsed, proving the point that he was the legs that held up that table!
“With Vice President Osinbajo, President Buhari does not need his disastrous and fallacious minister of information who has caused credibility issues for his government”.
