ON NOW Newsday

Osinbajo: Buhari Proved Public Service Can Be Done With Integrity and Transparency

Former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has hailed late former President Buhari’s legacy of honesty, rule of law and patriotism.

Former Vice-President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has said that the late former President Muhammadu Buhari’s years of service to the nation demonstrated that leadership can be exercised with honesty, transparency and integrity.

Osinbajo stated this on Thursday in a heartfelt tribute delivered during the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Executive Council meeting.

Reflecting on their years of working together in government, Osinbajo said: “I want to say that in the end, service to our country is perhaps the most important attribute of all. He served faithfully for many years. He proved that you can serve honestly, forthrightly, with transparency and integrity.”

He continued, “And he served, as we all know, in so many different capacities, all the way up to president, twice, of our country. I want to thank God for the life, the exemplary life that he lived, and I want to thank God that God gave him the time that he spent with us. And even some time after he served as president of this country.”

Osinbajo praised Buhari’s democratic credentials, recalling how he transitioned from military rule to becoming a committed civilian politician, who endured multiple electoral defeats without losing faith in democratic processes.

“President Muhammadu Buhari would be remembered first as a convicted Democrat. We all know that he served first as a military ruler and then he became perhaps one of the most fastidious Democrats who has ever contested for elections in our country, losing elections thrice and going to court, pursuing due process for months at a time, attending every single one of the proceedings of the courts until the courts decided and finally winning in 2015,” Osinbajo said.

“I think that one of the most important attributes of President Muhammadu Buhari will be his respect for the rule of law, his respect for democracy, and his great love for this party that gave him an opportunity to run and serve as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. President Muhammadu Buhari will be remembered for so many other things.”

Osinbajo added that Buhari’s vision for Nigeria extended beyond politics, as he desired a united, self-believing and successful country.

“But chief of all, we’ll remember him as a man who believed in all of the standards that we as a party and those of us in this country who believe firmly in this country have set. He wanted to see a country that was united, wanted to see a country that believed in itself, a country that was successful in every way. And I want to just thank the almighty God for giving him the opportunity that he sought, for giving him the time that he spent with us,” he concluded.

Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi

Follow us on:

ON NOW Newsday
  • en