Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday night said he would rather
vacate his office as the nation’s Number Two man than compromise his
Christian faith.
Osinbajo stated this while
responding to posers raised by some Christian leaders at the
stakeholders’ meeting held at the new Banquet Hall of the Benue State
Government House, Makurdi.
He said under no circumstances would
he give up his faith but would rather vacate his position as the
nation’s Vice-President at the slightest attempt to cause him to abandon
his Christian virtues.
One of the speakers, the Catholic Bishop
of Gboko, His Lordship, Williams Avenya, had reminded Osinbajo of the
then-presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Muhammadu
Buhari’s campaign promises that he would not Islamise the country and
would protect the interest of all Nigerians including citizens of
minority ethnic groups if voted into power.
Quoting Buhari, the
bishop said, “My deputy is a Christian and there is no way I will
Islamise Nigeria with many Christians in my team.”
Avenya noted
that the killing of Christians and members of the minority ethnic group
particularly in Benue State had proved that the Federal Government under
Buhari was not living up to these promises.
Facing Osinbajo, the
bishop 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,” the bishop advised the VP.
Responding,
the vice-president 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.
“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.”
The Vice-President, while reacting to
the issue raised by another speaker, Dr. Magdalene Dura, that the
invasion of the state was an ethnic agenda, said no one would
deliberately kill his own people.
“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,”
Osinbajo added.
In his remark, Governor Samuel Ortom appealed to the Federal Government to ensure that peace reign in his state.
