I’m prepared to resign as VP at short notice – Osinbajo

Vice President (VP) Yemi Osinbajo has said that he cannot trade his Christian faith with anything, not even for the present political position he occupies as President Muhammadu Buhari’s deputy.

Osinbajo said that under no circumstances will he give up his Christian faith because he did not beg to become the VP, and that he was prepared to leave it at short notice as it means nothing.

He stated this when he was asked to exonerate himself from President Buhari’s alleged islamisation agenda during a stakeholders’ meeting held at the new Banquet Hall of the Benue State Government House, Makurdi.

At the event, a Catholic Bishop of Gboko, His Lordship, Williams Avenya, had recalled how Buhari during his campaign promises had assured that he would not islamise Nigeria but would protect the interest of all including minority ethnic groups if voted to become president.

The Bishop then quoted Buhari’s own words during the 2015 campaigns, “My deputy is a Christian and there is no way I will islamise Nigeria with many Christians in my team.”

The Bishop then said that Christians and members of the minority ethnic group particularly in Benue State continuously being killed under Buhari’s administration, is prove that he had failed in his promise to protect all and not islamise Nigeria.

Addressing Osinbajo specifically, Avenya said, “The point I’m trying to make is that a day is going to come when you, as the Vice-President, will bear the brunt of that problem of injustices in our land, especially those perpetrated on smaller ethnic groups that have no one to fight for them.

“So, as a Christian person, exonerate yourself from this situation.”

In his response Vice President Osinbajo said, “My Lord Bishop, you said you are not a politician, I am also not a politician. As a matter of fact, I’m also a priest and I’m a Christian, a born again Christian. Because I’m a born again Christian, my destiny is not determined by any man but by God who I serve.

“Let me assure you that under no circumstances, none whatsoever, will I give up my faith or refuse to stand up for my faith.

“You can take that to the bank. Even the position that I currently occupy, I did not ask for it and I’m prepared to leave it at a short notice. It doesn’t mean anything.

“I became a born again Christian after I became a professor, a professor of the law of evidence, a professor of proof. But when the Lord Jesus Christ met me, He persuaded me by showing me clearly that there is such a thing as the evidence of things that are not seen.

“It is because of the evidence of things that are not seen, it is because you can make something out of nothing that I stand here today as Vice-President.

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“How possible can anyone say that the killing of women and children doesn’t matter because he is Vice-President or because he is President? How is that possible? Certainly, it cannot be for a person who is born again. A renewed mind will know that there is justice, there is consequence even if there is no justice here on earth.”

Another speaker, Dr. Magdalene Dura, tagged killings in the state as an ethnic agenda.

Osinbajo disagreeing with her said, “I do not accept and I do not believe that there is an agenda. No one will deliberately kill his own people. No one will do so. But we cannot bring back the dead but we can make life more bearable for the living.

“This is why coming here today at the behest of the President is first, to look at the situation myself, to get a first-hand view of the situation because the President has mandated me to take this on board and deal with the issues.”

Governor Samuel Ortom, in his speech at the event urged the Federal Government to ensure that peace reigns in Benue.

He added that if not for the intervention of his administration, that the killing of the two Catholic priests and 17 parishioners could have caused a religious crisis.

 

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