We will run a transparent government, says Osinbajo

Lagos – Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the Vice-Presidential
Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on
Thursday promised a transparent government, if the
party was voted into power.
Osinbajo gave the pledge in Lagos at the conferment of
the Gani Fawehinmi Integrity award on him by the Ikeja
Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
He was honoured alongside the late lawyer and human
rights activist, Mr Bamidele Aturu, who died on July 9,
2014.
The award was part of activities marking the 11th Chief
Gani Fawehinmi Annual Lecture.
The lecture is entitled, "Ethnicity, Religion, Illiteracy:
Promises and Illusions of Democracy in the Struggle to
Uplift the Masses from Impoverishment.''
Osinbajo said he agreed to serve as retired Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari's running mate because of his
conviction that Nigeria needed a positive change to save
the future of the country.
"I make a pledge that our administration will be
committed to transparency and the good of the Nigerian
nation.
"I strongly believe that if we cannot do that it will be
very difficult for Nigeria to get out of this `present
mess'," he said.
According to him, Nigerians are yearning for transparent
leadership because a lot of things have gone wrong with
country.
He said: "There is no doubt that the Nigerian people are
looking for transparent leadership. This is not a contest
about ethnicity or religion and it cannot be."
Osinbajo likened running the affairs of the country to a
football team where only the best persons should be
picked to guarantee winning.
"What we ought to be doing if we want to win as a
nation is to choose those who will represent us best,
irrespective of ethnicity and religion."
The chairman of the occasion and former Catholic
Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Okogie said
Fawehinmi lived his life fighting for a better Nigeria.
He said that Fawehinmi must be "terribly worried'' today
about the political and economic atmosphere in the
country.
"Gani would be saddened that at this age and time,
Nigeria is still playing politics of religion and ethnicity
when the primary concern should be capability," Okogie
said.
According to him, Nigerians need civic education in
order to be properly informed to think and act right.
He said: "This is the time we must play politics of the
best, for the best position in order to guarantee the best
for our nation.
"Let only those with the fear of God and love of their
neighbours rule Nigeria; only those who know what to
do should sit at the helm of affairs."
Delivering his lecture, a Muslim cleric, Dr Saheed
Timehin, noted that Nigerians were among the most
religious people in the world.
He said that politics should not, however, be about
religion.
According to him, Christianity, Islam and African
traditional religion, all promote values and social justice
which have been eroded in Nigeria by politicians.
Timehin said: "As 2015 general elections draw near
people are being implored again in some places of
worship to vote along religious line. It is sad that
Nigerians hardly learn from history.
"Rather than emphasising on good governance and
service delivery, they subscribe to the same old cults of
mediocrity that brought the nation to where it is at the
moment."
Earlier in his welcome address, the branch Chairman, Mr
Yinka Farounbi, said Fawehinmi, was being remembered
and celebrated because of his immense contributions to
the legal profession.
Farounbi said the award recipients were selected after a
vigorous and painstaking search as men who
exemplified very high integrity. (NAN)
Courtesy: vanguard news
Broadcast by Obele Calistus