Why Osinbajo is under attack, by Senator Shehu Sani

​Those attacking acting President Yemi Osinbajo might have been unwittingly creating room for a North-South crisis, Senator Shehu  Sani has said. Some politicians from the North at the weekend accused the acting president of nepotism in appointments, but the senator said the criticism was uncalled for.

Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central) spoke in Kano yesterday after paying a condolence visit on Mallam Aminu Kano family over the death last month of Aishatu, the widow of the late Second Republic presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP). He accused the northern politicians “who have suddenly derived the pleasure in attacking the acting president as “hell bent on creating religious and ethnic disaffection among Nigerians”. He said: ‘’The actions and utterances of these northerners are designed to ignite disturbances and conflict between Osinbajo and President Muhammadu Buhari. ‘’The acting President has proved to be a consistent and absolute loyalist of President Muhammadu Buhari. It is unfair for anyone to accuse him of ethnic or religious bias or tribalism.

 Osinbajo has kept the flame of progress alight since the absence of the President. Those attacking Osinbajo are reactionary conservative elements. ‘’I believe that they have the fundamental right to express their opinion and make public their own perception but we must be very careful not to instigate crisis and conflict between the North and the Southern part of Nigeria. ”He recalled that some progressives across the country came together to install the Buhari government, adding: ‘’I think we should appreciate the contributions of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Osinbajo and others, who worked tirelessly and invested so much to see that we have fundamental changes.” To Sani, ‘’Acting President Osinbajo has proven to be a capable, able and a determined leader, who has remained consistent on the side of his principal”. I think he should be appreciated rather than being condemned,” he said.

Sani advised the Acting President to be very watchful and very careful not to make a mistake so as not to give room for ethnic and religious forces to capitalise and create crisis and conflict within the administration”. The senator extolled the virtues of Hajiya Aishatu, saying her death had created a gap between the past and the future.’’ She gave us hope and encouragement. She inspired us and served as the guardian of politics of principle and ideology.‘’ She lived long to see the good and the bad, as well as the worst of Nigeria and she lived long to see the dream of her late husband metamorphose to a political changein Nigeria,” he said.‘’ 

We will forever remember her as the woman behind the stitch of revolutionary politics,” Sani said, adding that we will remember her as “an invisible, hard and a silent voice in the struggle for liberation, social justice and emancipation of the poor”.

The Nation