Omokri rips into ‘disloyal’ Osinbajo, calls him ‘a placeholder’

Reno Omokri, a former aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, has launched a scathing critique on Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in the aftermath of the latter’s presidential declaration.

Omokri made his stance known on Wednesday during a live interview on AriseTV monitored by Ripples Nigeria.

Osinbajo, on Monday, had publicly declared his intention to vie for the office of the Presidency despite the well-publicized moves being made in that regard by his former mentor and boss, Bola Tinubu, who also doubles as the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In the aftermath of the Vice-President’s declaration, Tinubu met with members of the Progressive Governors Forum at the Kebbi State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja.

While fielding questions from journalists, he was asked to react to the declaration of Osinbajo, whom the reporter referred to as his “son”. The former Lagos State governor said, “I don’t have any son grown up enough to make such declaration.”

In his statement during the interview on AriseTV, Omokri noted that the Vice-President “owes his political achievement to Tinubu and he was nominated as a Vice-President to be a placeholder.”

He further slammed Osinbajo’s declaration, calling it “empty” while noting that it was more of a threat since he pledged to continue from where President Muhammadu Buhari stopped.

“Recall in 2015 when Tinubu was kicked out due to Muslim/Muslim which was why Osinbajo emerged. He was a mere civil servant and didn’t achieve anything on his own in politics. He owes his political achievement to Tinubu and he was placed there as a placeholder.

“You cannot have character without loyalty and Osinbajo is not loyal. You cannot rely on someone who is not loyal. Disloyalty never ends well and if you look at the country’s history, it doesn’t end well. Buhari probably assured him on the possibility of consensus, sidelining Tinubu in the process.

“I don’t object to Osinbajo’s aspiration. I just said it was empty because any aspirant has to show vision which the he lacks. It was also a response to Tinubu’s aspiration. He was not able to list any concrete achievements; everything was just noise.

“As a lawyer, he needs to tell Nigerians what he wants to do. It was more like a threat, talking about continuing from where Buhari stops. Nigerians are frightened. His declaration was within his rights but empty. Tell us your specific plans and how it is going to be done; not just empty promises.”

Omokri also advocated negotiations in order to redress the menace of terrorism, despite the opposition to it.

Read also: Omokri connects Kyari’s ‘supercop’ status amid drug links to his religion and tribe

According to him, “No country has defeated terror totally and it can only be defeated by negotiations. The Belfast Agreement ended it in Northern Ireland.

“The historical wrong done to Mohammed Yusuf (deceased Boko Haram founder) needs to be redressed and pay reparations to his family. This will rob the terrorists of their recruiting tool while securing our borders. Negotiating with them, we need to hear them out.

“A lot of these bandits are herders and we need to address the legitimate claims. They are leaders we can talk to after redressing these wrongs. People like Sheikh Gumi who can get them and get them to corporate with the FG in order to safeguard the lives of Nigerians. I know this is not what Nigerians want to hear but it is the way forward.”

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