How did he get here? How did a seemingly beloved deputy slide from being the darling of his master into constituting a political nuisance that must be checked, caged and cast aside? How did he morph from being “the anointed one” into a dispensable sacrificial lamb now fit only for the day of slaughter?

What happened to the "bromance" between Yemi Osinbajo and Muhammadu Buhari? What went wrong with the reliable deputy whom Nigerians came to reckon with in the fluctuating face of an absentee principal?

Barely six months ago, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo touted the love that would never be lost, it seems, between himself and President Buhari.

“The President has taken me as a son in the way he treats me,” Osinbajo said during a visit to Buhari’s home state of Katsina while the boss was seeing doctors abroad.

“The amount of responsibilities President Buhari has given me shows he seriously believes we can live together as brothers,” he said.

That was in May, 2019. Osinbajo echoed the same sentiment in 2017 when the president spent over 100 days on a sick bed in the UK. Before embarking on that medical trip, Buhari temporarily handed power over to his deputy as stipulated by the constitution. But things do not appear to be as rosy at the moment between “father and son”.

Rift or not?



In case you didn’t get the memo, the president is currently on a “private” (read “medical”) visit to London and has refused to put Osinbajo in charge. To silence his critics, or “wailers” as they have come to be identified, Buhari’s hailers defended the move by arguing that the Nigerian president could rule the country from anywhere in the world.

Forget the fact that the presidency has denied any reported rift between Buhari and his official Number Two. But remember the words of the former minister president of Prussia and chancellor of the then German Empire, Otto von Bismarck, who admonished his audience to “never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied”.

There’s no rift, there’s no rift. But Buhari’s chief-of-staff Abba Kyari, the apparent unofficial Number Two, flew all the way to London to present the Deep Offshore (and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract) Bill to Buhari who then signed it into law.

All is well in Aso Rock but Buhari fired dozens of Osinbajo’s aides. And after the vice president’s spokesperson dismissed the reports as “fake news”, the presidency issued a statement to the contrary!

Osinbajo still presides over the National Economic Council (NEC) but Buhari has constituted his own Economic Advisory Council. The vice president has also been taken off the administration’s legacy social investment programmes. One of such programmes, “N-Power”, is now reported to have been riddled with massive corruption under Osinbajo’s watch. The president has also instructed his deputy not to make any move without approval from “the oga at the top”.

And there are subtle calls for the former law professor to resign.

Where did Osinbajo go wrong?



It is sensible, but also convenient, to solely link Osinbajo’s travails to the tussle for 2023. There isn’t a way to isolate the vice president’s troubles from Nigeria’s next election year without appearing ignorant. But there is another variable we need to consider.

Two years ago, the consensus on the street was that Buhari may have already anointed Osinbajo to consolidate his legacy. But everything happening in Abuja right now indicates the president may be looking elsewhere for a successor.

And it could be that Osinbajo’s better-than-Buhari “oversabi” fuelled the present impasse.

“To whom much is given, much is expected.” That mantra applies to life outside of Nigeria’s political arena – a space in which increasing responsibility must, unfortunately, be reciprocated by bungling impassivity, and especially when the luminosity of a superior is at stake.

Robert Green, in his 1998 book titled “The 48 Laws of Power”, warns fellow humans to “never outshine the master”.

“Always make those above you feel comfortably superior,” the author advises in the bestseller. “In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.”

It seems Osinbajo’s failure to follow this admonition will rob the vice president of a chance to become president.



Who does it better?

Although Buhari was the former military dictator whom Nigerians expected to be firm in the matters of the state, it was “bloody civilian” Osinbajo who pulled his weight when an important security agency trampled on democracy.

Buhari failed to fire the former inspector-general of police Ibrahim Idris whom he openly accused of disobeying a direct order. He instead eased him out office after his tenure expired. Osinbajo, on the other hand, fired DSS chief Lawal Daura after the inglorious invasion of the national assembly, and with Buhari on medical tourism to the UK.

The vice president looked strong, and at the expense of Buhari’s spine. He outdid the master, essentially breaking the first and the most important law of power.

On the delicate issue of Biafra, Osinbajo maintained the hard line “one Nigeria” mantra but with a soft touch. In a speech he delivered in Abuja in 2017 ahead of the 50th anniversary of a the country’s bloody civil war, Osinbajo called Biafra agitators “brothers and sisters” and asked for their permission “to differ and to suggest that we're greater together than apart.” That rhetoric clearly contrasted Buhari’s decision to unleash the military’s “Operation Python Dance” on the secessionists.

President Buhari was the one claiming to be a repentant democrat. But Osinbajo showed the world that he was never a dictator.

On the several occasions that the president was away, Osinbajo would tour markets in Abuja, trade soothing touches and infectious smiles with everyday Nigerians creating the impression, even if unwittingly, that he was more human than Number One.

Osinbajo was a breath of fresh air for many Nigerians who took Buhari for a source of their hopelessness. And, now, the vice president’s political aspiration struggles for air with the presidential cabal zooming in for blood.

What now?

First of all, Mr Vice President needs to stop whatever he is doing right now and go read “The 48 Laws of Power” again. I don't want to believe he hasn't done that before. Read it again!

Also, Osinbajo must disregard the words of those pressuring him to step aside. The office of the Vice President presently shields him from whatever charges of corruption anyone may want to bring against him. Osinbajo must hold on to this immunity so he can successfully launch his presidential ambition, if he nurtures any, without having to look over his shoulders for Magu's boys from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

who conjured this?

Upworkwriter007:
who conjured this?

Someone who has a lot of hate and no job.... I can bet you he is The Lazy youth.

I have read through the story and it seems I couldn't find any thoughtful and meaning attached to the write up so we need to face the reality nobody on earth can demote VP osinbajo as he's the Apple of God eye

Stale Fake news concoction. OP dat is talking in di nonsense!

Nice one op..

edo3:
Nice one op..

Nice one haters and jobless wailers to masturbate on. Better GI and find work jobless youth.

StreetFight:


Nice one haters and jobless wailers to masturbate on. Better GI and find work jobless youth.

All these small small boys wey just register on nairaland sef,, una no know una mate?
Always looking for una father mate to insult bah?

God love Osinbajo, there's nothing your long write up can do to stop him from getting to the top

Osibanjo is down.. and wil stay down...sidelined and out.. as long as Hausa Fulani are in government ,in power and in charge!

... soon the real bush meat wil enter.. kapish..a new puppet will be install and as usual his worshippers will continue..

The more “ they “ look,the more they see.. but the less..they understand.

With all the signs .. from party .. to government.. ..to politics ... mean every happenings. .. some people keep sleeping on a power bike.

Nice one

Go and write it down. Osinbajo is the next president of Nigeria and he will fix this country

His simple offense was that he saved Nigeria of crises when it was needful and you guys felt he should have saved the president's back and leave the country on your usual auto drive.

...

Osibanjo will be a better President....if he runs in 2023 I will vote and campaign for him


..

Regardless of what's happening now heavens has the final say. I wish him grace

RuddyFusion:
Osibanjo will be a better President....if he runs in 2023 I will vote and campaign for him


..

Regardless of what's happening now heavens has the final say. I wish him grace

Lobatan!!!

Apt.


You that knows and understand and in constant use of the laws of power, are you as powerful as Osinbajo?

That book is demonic.

Is it the Bible?

What does the Bible say

Rubbish. Laws of which power? Was he not doing the job he was placed there to do. You are not ashamed that you are classifying Buhari as a nincompoop. The levels of sychopancy here is unbelievable. You want a smart man like Osinbajo who should be an asset to Buhari to come in and rule Nigeria like an illiterate. You should be ashamed of yourself for this rubbish post. You and the people that paid you.

What would be have gained by being a lapdog like you? Surely coronavirus. See why it’s good to be true to who you are always. Power is given by God, not anyone. Power also goes around, no one holds it forever. Only an incompetent boss will be intimidated by a subordinate who is an asset. A competent boss will know how to use that asset.

Come! Are u sure u aren't drunk when writing this?

Absolutely

The author of this piece am quite sure is high on Osogbo weed.

Lol dude is confusing himself in the write up .

PerfectJUSTICE:
How did he get here? How did a seemingly beloved deputy slide from being the darling of his master into constituting a political nuisance that must be checked, caged and cast aside? How did he morph from being “the anointed one” into a dispensable sacrificial lamb now fit only for the day of slaughter?

What happened to the "bromance" between Yemi Osinbajo and Muhammadu Buhari? What went wrong with the reliable deputy whom Nigerians came to reckon with in the fluctuating face of an absentee principal?

Barely six months ago, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo touted the love that would never be lost, it seems, between himself and President Buhari.

“The President has taken me as a son in the way he treats me,” Osinbajo said during a visit to Buhari’s home state of Katsina while the boss was seeing doctors abroad.

“The amount of responsibilities President Buhari has given me shows he seriously believes we can live together as brothers,” he said.

That was in May, 2019. Osinbajo echoed the same sentiment in 2017 when the president spent over 100 days on a sick bed in the UK. Before embarking on that medical trip, Buhari temporarily handed power over to his deputy as stipulated by the constitution. But things do not appear to be as rosy at the moment between “father and son”.

Rift or not?



In case you didn’t get the memo, the president is currently on a “private” (read “medical”) visit to London and has refused to put Osinbajo in charge. To silence his critics, or “wailers” as they have come to be identified, Buhari’s hailers defended the move by arguing that the Nigerian president could rule the country from anywhere in the world.

Forget the fact that the presidency has denied any reported rift between Buhari and his official Number Two. But remember the words of the former minister president of Prussia and chancellor of the then German Empire, Otto von Bismarck, who admonished his audience to “never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied”.

There’s no rift, there’s no rift. But Buhari’s chief-of-staff Abba Kyari, the apparent unofficial Number Two, flew all the way to London to present the Deep Offshore (and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract) Bill to Buhari who then signed it into law.

All is well in Aso Rock but Buhari fired dozens of Osinbajo’s aides. And after the vice president’s spokesperson dismissed the reports as “fake news”, the presidency issued a statement to the contrary!

Osinbajo still presides over the National Economic Council (NEC) but Buhari has constituted his own Economic Advisory Council. The vice president has also been taken off the administration’s legacy social investment programmes. One of such programmes, “N-Power”, is now reported to have been riddled with massive corruption under Osinbajo’s watch. The president has also instructed his deputy not to make any move without approval from “the oga at the top”.

And there are subtle calls for the former law professor to resign.

Where did Osinbajo go wrong?



It is sensible, but also convenient, to solely link Osinbajo’s travails to the tussle for 2023. There isn’t a way to isolate the vice president’s troubles from Nigeria’s next election year without appearing ignorant. But there is another variable we need to consider.

Two years ago, the consensus on the street was that Buhari may have already anointed Osinbajo to consolidate his legacy. But everything happening in Abuja right now indicates the president may be looking elsewhere for a successor.

And it could be that Osinbajo’s better-than-Buhari “oversabi” fuelled the present impasse.

“To whom much is given, much is expected.” That mantra applies to life outside of Nigeria’s political arena – a space in which increasing responsibility must, unfortunately, be reciprocated by bungling impassivity, and especially when the luminosity of a superior is at stake.

Robert Green, in his 1998 book titled “The 48 Laws of Power”, warns fellow humans to “never outshine the master”.

“Always make those above you feel comfortably superior,” the author advises in the bestseller. “In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.”

It seems Osinbajo’s failure to follow this admonition will rob the vice president of a chance to become president.



Who does it better?

Although Buhari was the former military dictator whom Nigerians expected to be firm in the matters of the state, it was “bloody civilian” Osinbajo who pulled his weight when an important security agency trampled on democracy.

Buhari failed to fire the former inspector-general of police Ibrahim Idris whom he openly accused of disobeying a direct order. He instead eased him out office after his tenure expired. Osinbajo, on the other hand, fired DSS chief Lawal Daura after the inglorious invasion of the national assembly, and with Buhari on medical tourism to the UK.

The vice president looked strong, and at the expense of Buhari’s spine. He outdid the master, essentially breaking the first and the most important law of power.

On the delicate issue of Biafra, Osinbajo maintained the hard line “one Nigeria” mantra but with a soft touch. In a speech he delivered in Abuja in 2017 ahead of the 50th anniversary of a the country’s bloody civil war, Osinbajo called Biafra agitators “brothers and sisters” and asked for their permission “to differ and to suggest that we're greater together than apart.” That rhetoric clearly contrasted Buhari’s decision to unleash the military’s “Operation Python Dance” on the secessionists.

President Buhari was the one claiming to be a repentant democrat. But Osinbajo showed the world that he was never a dictator.

On the several occasions that the president was away, Osinbajo would tour markets in Abuja, trade soothing touches and infectious smiles with everyday Nigerians creating the impression, even if unwittingly, that he was more human than Number One.

Osinbajo was a breath of fresh air for many Nigerians who took Buhari for a source of their hopelessness. And, now, the vice president’s political aspiration struggles for air with the presidential cabal zooming in for blood.

What now?

First of all, Mr Vice President needs to stop whatever he is doing right now and go read “The 48 Laws of Power” again. I don't want to believe he hasn't done that before. Read it again!

Also, Osinbajo must disregard the words of those pressuring him to step aside. The office of the Vice President presently shields him from whatever charges of corruption anyone may want to bring against him. Osinbajo must hold on to this immunity so he can successfully launch his presidential ambition, if he nurtures any, without having to look over his shoulders for Magu's boys from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The VP is no different from Buhari: he is actually worse because he claims to know and follow Jesus. If Buhari knew and followed Jesus the way the VP claims to know and follow him, he will not and would never support all the evils that the VP has turned a blind eye.
I remember his statement during the agitation for Biafra referendum. He insinuated that those agitating for the self determination have forgotten the lessons of the civil war. Question is, since when did self determination become synonymous with WAR? Ever since that day, I doubted the VP's calling as a pastor and to be honest, I doubt the calling of most Nigerian Pastors.

DAutoDiagnosis:
Apt.


You that knows and understand and in constant use of the laws of power, are you as powerful as Osinbajo?

That book is demonic.

Is it the Bible?

What does the Bible say

You say the OP is Apt, yet your preceding words say differently.

#bubuZBs

It's this where we are with Koro? No other current news that we are going to rehash tales off bygone times? Well the president has continued to delegate more functions to his vice, case in point, the recently constituted power sector reform committee. Make of that whatever you will

Although this is quite stale, Op made a lot of valid points. However, you also need to know that the VP is from a different school of taught.. "whatsoever your hand findeth to do, do it with all your might..". If he has been faithful to his own ideology, I am sure posterity will be kind to him.

Finally, no offence intended, guys we need to be more civil please. It appears to me as though some of us didn't go through the write-up before taking sides and issuing some not-so-great comments.

Piiggiiiddiioooott cum looonatic on the loose...

Mtcheeeeew

Gandollaar:
You say the OP is Apt, yet your preceding words say differently.

#bubuZBs

He should get credit for the post ke. That I disagree with him does not mean there is no sense in his nonsense or that his composition or is position is not apt.

I've always liked Osibanjo since he was the Acting President... He is a better man than buhari,if bubu dies and the north want to install a puppet,they should be ready for battle also cos the south won't take it....I know some unknown yorubas will still betray us