•Did He Betray TINUBU Or Not?
Our attention has been drawn to a recent write up by one Ibiyemi Ibiyo, who responded to City People’s recent cover story titled: Why The Yoruba Won’t Forgive V.P Osinbajo In A Hurry, all in a bid to defend V.P Yemi Osinbajo’s decision to vie for 2023 presidency.
Ordinarily, we would not have responded to the laughable write up, authored by a name that is not well known in the media space. But we had to reply to correct all the inaccuracies in the article.
We say laughable because of the vulgar and indecent words used therein. Reading through the response, it reads like one of those crude old school methods of responding to serious issues where all you do is resort to name-calling, instead of addressing the main issue.
Of course, we all know VP Yemi Osinbajo has a media team whose main job is to respond to any story published about their Principal. We also know that he has a media team handling his campaign and their brief is to keep responding to anything and everything written about Prof. We believe that this was what they did when they responded to City People Magazine’s cover story.
City People story had revealed how many Yoruba people feel bad that Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, (a Yoruba) and political associate of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu came out to contest against Tinubu, (a Yoruba) who is his political godfather and the person who nominated him for Pres. Buhari’s Vice Presidential slot. With Osinbajo losing at the primaries, the general view across the South West is that Prof. Osinbajo should not have run as someone who believes in the Yoruba Omoluabi ethos. There are those who even feel that Prof. should have stepped down for Tinubu when other aspirants did. That is the thrust of the recent City People cover story.
But, one Ibiyemi Ibiyo on 16th June, 2022 wrote the article opposing City People. Rather than address the main issue, all the writer sought to do was to attack the reputation of the 26-year-old City People Magazine, by calling it a gossip rag known for yellow journalism, forgetting that when City People turned 25 last year, his boss, VP Osinbajo was one of the many dignitaries who congratulated City People’s giant strides in Journalism. In a beautifully worded-one page letter, Prof. commended City People for its robust contributions to Journalism in Nigeria.
Pres. Muhammadu Buhari also congratulated City People @ 25, same as Gov. Dapo Abiodun, the Ogun State Governor. All in all, about 50 eminent Nigerians sent congratulatory letters for a job well done.
So, how can the media aide justify his claim when his principal’s congratulatory letter flies in the face of his claim. According to the article, “Prof. Osinbajo has done nothing wrong to the Yoruba to require forgiveness. If anything, Osinbajo has all through the years made the Yoruba nation proud both by his enviable pedigree, outstanding career path both in the private as well as the public sector and especially by his sterling performance as Nigeria’s vice president”.
“Maybe the writer of the article is not talking about the Yoruba of the South-West region of Nigeria. But if the writer meant the Yoruba people of the South-West, the writer got it all wrong”.
“The people of the South-West are people with values and to my mind Professor Yemi Osinbajo is the quintessential Omoluabi. It was for this reason that Yoruba leaders of thought knowing the value of Osinbajo to Yorubaland even as far back as 2019 reportedly spoke in one voice that, “whatever negative that happens to Osinbajo politically is an affront to the Yoruba race regardless of his political affiliation.”
“They did this because they hold him in high esteem. Nothing whatsoever has arisen to change this reality. Even during his recent campaigns for the 2023 presidential elections, he was celebrated by Yoruba masses as well as the high and mighty everywhere he went across the South West. Evidence abounds to prove this assertion.
To understand the true position of the Yorubas on the person of the Vice President, one must understand the Yoruba concept of Omoluabi. It is a Philosophical and Cultural Concept at the heart of the Yoruba. It is used to describe a person of good character. The Omoluabi Concept signifies courage, humility and respect. An Omoluabi is a person of honour who believes in hard work, respects the rights of others, and gives to the community in deeds and in action. Above all, an Omoluabi is a person of integrity and is thought of as a paragon of excellence in character”.
“In Yoruba cultural norms, an Omoluabi demonstrates and exhibits the inherent virtue and value of Iwapele – a gentle character. Iwapele is ultimately the basis of moral conduct in Yoruba culture and a core defining attribute of an Omoluabi. The most significant of these virtues demonstrated by an Omoluabi are; Oro Siso (the spoken word, the Yoruba accord great respect for intelligent and expert use of language), Iteriba (Respect), Inu Rere (Good will towards others), Otito (Truth), Iwa (Character), Igboya (Bravery) , Ise (Hardwork), and Opolo Pipe (Intelligence). Professor Yemi Osinbajo all through his career in the private and public sectors has demonstrated these virtues in good measure that most people in the South West and even other persons outside Yorubaland appreciate him so much. Even his enemies and traducers cannot in all honesty deny this”.
“True Yoruba Culture does not celebrate the opposite of the above named virtues and to my mind the sad fact is that Osinbajo’s traducers have these negative traits in full measure. So we have seen such characters and bodies celebrate persons with unfettered individualism, those who have toxic ambitions, thieves, rogues, mafia bosses, thugs, and other such criminal elements and their activities to the detriment of the image and well being of the Yoruba race and to our nation”.
“Twisted minds have been postulating that by aspiring to be Nigeria’s next President and contesting with Bola Tinubu, a fellow Yoruba chieftain, Osinbajo has committed a great and unpardonable offence. But this is a lie from the pit of hell. Yoruba elders of the All Progressive Congress, the party Osinbajo and Tinubu belong to met sometime in Lagos during the APC primary election processes and came to a conclusion that stories of “Betrayals” were red herrings and that all aspirants from the South West in the APC were free to contest for the APC presidential primaries. What then becomes the basis for Osinbajo to require forgiveness from the Yoruba as parroted by the cheap propaganda headline of City People Magazine?
“The APC presidential primaries may have come and gone. One thing is sure, attempts to shame Osinbajo by cheap propaganda will not work. This is because almost everyone knows that Osinbajo did not lose to a better candidate. Actually, it would have been in Tinubu’s best interest and that of the Yoruba nation for him to have supported Osinbajo to victory. Time will tell”.
“Besides a cursory look at the Nigerian landscape reveals that it is confronted with a plethora of challenges and these problems are legion, interwoven, and intricate. Professor Yemi Osinbajo will still play a significant role in unraveling our problems as the new Nigeria emerges after this sorry pass”.
“To my mind, throughout history now and in the years to come, many Yoruba and indeed most Nigerians will continue to thank God for Osinbajo. As it is, many Nigerians today believe in the dream for a new Nigeria, as represented by vice president Yemi Osinbajo and visionary Nigerians who believe in Nigeria’s manifest destiny in Africa and the world know that a new Nigeria has begun”, concluded the writer.
The issue which the media handlers of the VP ought to have addressed is whether the VP ought to have come out to contest against Asiwaju Tinubu or not. Nobody is blaming Prof. Osinbajo for having decided to join the APC presidential primaries and scoring 235 votes. He has every right to do so. But, is it morally right?
The entire article and sense of reasoning of the writer is warped and bereft of logic. His content, his explanations and definitions of Omoluabi are all incontestable, except that the writer mischievously left out the most significant meaning of Omoluabi. He failed to inform the reading public that an Omoluabi in Yorubaland, is that well brought up child that never fails to respect the elders, regardless of his grievances and ambition. An Omoluabi is that well brought up Yoruba man or woman that never forgets good deeds done to him or her and even seeks ways to repay such good deeds. Omoluabi to mo oo’re, they are called. These are important definitions of Omoluabi the writer cleverly ignored.
The Omoluabi, even in the thick of agitation for something you feel truly deserving of, must learn to show RESPECT to his elders by learning to tread softly and respectfully seek to get his blessings from such elder before going to the market place to publicly engage him in a contest for the one thing you know he has always wanted to lay his hands on …especially if the elder in question is the man who gave you every single political achievement you have to your name, including giving you on a platter of gold, an office you never lifted a finger to work for- office of the Vice President of Nigeria.
Let all pro-Osinbajo supporters be assured that no one has declared a WAR against the VP who is very, very, closely associated with the Publisher of City People. The Publisher has had a long standing relationship with the VP as far back as the early 90s when Prof was his family lawyer and Consultant to The NEWS Magazine which had Bayo Onanuga, Babafemi Ojudu, Dapo Olorunyomi, Idowu Obasa, Kunle Ajibade and Seye Kehinde as Co-founders.
Let it be on record that City People remains the only celebrity magazine that recently dug up on VP Osinbajo, like we did others, by travelling to Ikenne-Remo, the hometown of the VP to interview his kinsmen.
Without any prompting from the VP or his media team, City People took off to Ikenne Remo weeks before the primaries held, to feel the pulse of the people and capture their mood and preparedness as their illustrious son looked set to contest for the highest office in the land.
We visited Osinbajo’s family house in Ikenne. We spoke with his kinsmen, reported their love and support for their son, whom they hoped would win the APC primary election and eventually become President come 2023.
This was our own modest contributions to the aspirations of a man The City People Group and it’s Publisher have tremendous respect for. It is indeed sad to note that, when City People undertook on its own, the responsibility to travel to Ikenne-Remo to support the VP’s presidential aspirations, not a word of Gratitude came from the VP’s Camp.
Now, just because of a little story that we did without the slightest intention to denigrate the Vice President, all hell is let loose.
We do not have the time nor the desire to join issues with anyone.
We stay focused on our goals and objectives, one of which is to report and disseminate information as dispassionately as we possibly can. This has been our strength since the publication was birthed 26 years ago, and it shall remain so for as long we remain in business.
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