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Tag: Osinbajo

  • Lagos APC: Osinbajo’s choice as running mate perfect

    Lagos APC: Osinbajo’s choice as running mate perfect

    The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday welcomed the choice of Prof Yemi Osinbajo as the party’s presidential running mate perfect.

     Spokesman of the chapter Joe Igbokwe said the choice of the former Lagos Attorney-General and Commissioner for was another step taken in the right direction by the APC.

    He expressed the optimism that the combination of the ex-General and the professor of Law will the pains inflicted on Nigerians since 1999 by the ruling party.

    Also yesterday, Senator Gbenga Ashafa said the choice of the law professor reflected the seriousness of the opposition party.

    Ashafa said the pair of Buhari and Osinbajo will offer Nigerians a new lease of life and provide the long-sought-after change.

    Igbokwe said in the statement: “It is like putting a round peg in a round hole. It complements the stellar presidential candidate of APC, Gen. Muhamadu Buhari (rtd).

    “With the emergence of Prof. Osinbajo, the change train that will end the harrowing PDP reign of corruption, ineptitude and corruption is now complete. We charge all Nigerians to work to ensure that the 2015 elections herald the needed change Nigerians have been yearning for by rallying round the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket.

    “Coming exactly a week after the completion of the spectacular APC presidential primaries in Lagos, the choice of Osinbajo reflects the demand of Nigerians for a credible, untainted, committed and competent team that will be trusted to end the reign of mediocrity and corruption that has wrecked Nigeria for sixteen horrible years.

     “The choice itself, and the general acceptance, has finally put a seal on those that have desperately been sowing expectations of crisis and division in APC, as a needed tonic for their continued stay in power.

     “Once again, their permutation and evil wishes failed fatally while they are hit by unending crisis and schism arising from their deep seated selfish interests while the APC continues to grow from strength to strength to the glory of the badly ruined Nigerian state.

    “Prof. Osinbajo is a deep intellectual, a revered Christian pastor, a revered professor of law, a redoubtable lawyer and a technocrat who compliments the stellar records of Gen. Buhari.

    “He will be  coming into governance with the wealth of experience he had gathered in the Public Service as former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos, who did creditably well in reforming the justice system in Lagos, to make it a pace setter in judicial dispensation in Nigeria today. His commitment to the return of Nigeria to the paths of legality, sanity and judicial is legendary and the country will benefit from this.

    “While we express our joy and those of other Nigerians in this excellent choice, we urge Nigerians, who have been yearning for change to start working for that change, as this great opportunity has presented itself. We urge Nigerians to start the process of mobilizing the abused, cheated, victimized Nigerians for the great change of 2015 which will rescue Nigeria from the clutches of bad governance, deeply entrenched corruption and cluelessness that have combined to wreck a well endowed country today.”

  • Osinbajo, right man for the job

    SIR: I first met Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, in January, 1971, when I entered secondary school. Although he was just two years ahead of me, he was already highly regarded by both students and the teaching staff on account of the fact that he was a diligent and dignified student. He also possessed the prestige that came from being known nationally as a first-rate and accomplished school debating champion in the early 1970s. I lost touch with him, from 1975, for a long time, but did not fail to hear of his reputation as a brilliant and perceptive jurist on the Faculty of Law of the University of Lagos, where he was similarly highly respected and liked by his colleagues and students.

    I restored my links with him when he emerged as the attorney-general, and therefore my boss in the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, in Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reforming administration in 1999. It was in this position that I came to observe him closely as a man, lawyer, and public servant. I quickly discovered that he is a profound and distinguished lawyer. As an advocate, I doubt that he has few, if any, peers at the Bar today. It is also my opinion that he was the most reform-minded attorney-general in Nigeria’s history. With the able support of another able and resourceful public servant and profound and distinguished lawyer, our then solicitor-general, Fola Arthur-Worrey, and drawing from the earlier pioneering work of Justice S.O. Ilori, a former chief judge of Lagos, and one of the most brilliant legal minds, he revolutionised practice and procedure in the Lagos High Court (their reforms became a model); he considerably expanded legal aid, bringing legal services within the reach of many indigent citizens; raised the conditions of service of the Lagos judiciary to a level unparalleled elsewhere; renovated, built, and equipped courts with modern gadgetry [bringing them into the modern age] all across the state; incorporated alternative dispute resolution into the administration of justice in Lagos, etc.

    However, some have criticized his nomination on the ground that he was never a state governor and is a political neophyte. I find this rather amusing, as I know of few people who possess his knowledge or understanding of our constitutional history, political evolution, contemporary political issues, or, most importantly, of the great issues on which the future of this country turns.

    I, therefore, believe that his input into Nigerian public life is likely to be in the tradition of past politico-legal greats such as FRA Williams, Bode Thomas, Adeyemi Lawson, Udo Udoma, Wenike Briggs, Justice Dan Ibekwe, etc. His entry into public life is, like those of the aforementioned greats of yesteryears, a boon to the life of this nation, for it brings once more to the art of politics and public service the benefit of a profound intellect which is a rich seam of ideas and initiatives. The contributions of great legal minds to public service has a long and distinguished history as the great careers of Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas More, Nottingham, Hardwicke, Eldon, and Haldane in the UK; the great New Deal lawyer, Benjamin V. Cohen, in the USA; and Norman Manley, in the West Indies, illustrate. What this nation needs, particularly at this time, is less of the narrowness, partisanship, and meaness that has characterized our politics for far too long, and more in the way of ideas and independent critical thinking. In this light, therefore, I have never quite understood the argument that a full-time committment to politics and the holding of the office of a state governor should be prerequisites for holding high political office. But then, I have never found, in all my years, that criticism is ever hindered by ignorance.

    • Akin Ajose-Adeogun,

    Lagos

  • Update: Osinbajo emerges through consensus, meets Buhari

    Update: Osinbajo emerges through consensus, meets Buhari

    After reaching consensus at about 1.30am, a former Attorney-General of Lagos State, Prof. Yemi Osibajo was adopted as the Vice-Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by party leaders.

    Osibajo and the APC Presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), held a meeting at about 1pm on Wednesday in Abuja.

    They discussed their partnership for the 2015 poll.

    The duo will address the press any moment from now at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja.

  • Judicial appointments not based on merit – Osinbajo

    Most judicial appointments in Nigeria are not based on merit, a former Lagos Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), said on Tuesday.

    He said merit is the least considered factor when lawyers are appointed to the bench.

    According to him, indigenship and political connections, rather than intellectual capacity and character, have been the basis of such appointments.

    Osinbajo spoke at the Judicial Reforms Conference in Abuja, with the theme: “Putting our best foot forward: The judiciary and the challenges of satisfying justice needs of the 21st century.”

    It was jointly organised by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Judiciary Committee, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Access to Justice (with the support of Open Society Initiative for West Africa and the NJC’s Performance Evaluation Committee).

    He said: “Generally, our systems of appointment locally and nationally focus more on other considerations. Merit comes very low in order of considerations.

    “When judges are appointed on the basis of ethnicity/religion or other parochial considerations, they will almost invariably see themselves as champions of the platform which gave them the position rather than ‘justice’ or a national platform.”

    Osinbajo said to ensure merit in judicial appointments, there should be clarity on criteria and selection process; information for intending applicants; openness in shortlisting from a wide range of eligible candidates; rigorous standard testing of competences, and quality assurance at every stage of the process.

    Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, represented by a member of the Lagos Judicial Service Commission Chief Kunle Uthman, criticised the process where the chief judge only calls for nominations from serving judges.

    “The question is: Why is the nomination limited to judges only? This, in my view, is a major flaw in the system, which permeates the entire process and results in a limited pool of applicants. “

  • Fed Govt to blame for prolonged ASUU strike, says Osinbajo

    Fed Govt to blame for prolonged ASUU strike, says Osinbajo

    •NIALS boss: make law a graduate course  

    Former Lagos State Attorney-General and professor of law Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) yesterday blamed the government for the prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which began on July 1.

    He said strikes had become popular because the government failed to act early to prevent conflicts.

    Osinbajo said: “I think it is time the government begins to look at ways in which we can engage the issues around education and other tensions in the society without waiting until things get to a head.”

    He spoke to The Nation at the Lagos campus of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), where he was a guest speaker at the ongoing NIALS Annual Festival of Legal Scholarship.

    The lawyer urged the government to reconsider how it deals with conflicts and not allow matters get out of hand before acting.

    He said: “There is no doubt that every strike has a way of impacting education negatively. We are in an environment where nothing is done until there is a strike or somebody does something dramatic or alarming. It seems to me that it really should be up to the authorities at this time to find ways in which we can resolve conflicts.

    “Generally speaking, governments always appear to be uninterested in resolving an issue until it comes to a head. That is the reason strikes have become very popular. I do not see any reason why we should be talking of academics and the funding of universities in this way. It should be basic. The United Nations (UN) has recommended, at least, 20 per cent of the budget for education, but these parameters are never met.”

    On the Federal Government’s plan to organise a national conference, Osinbajo said the agenda was not clear-cut and he does not clearly understand its essence.

    He said: “We have seen examples of these national conferences that appear to be knee-jerk reactions to something other than the realities of our present condition. I will like to better understand what this national conference is about. I do not know what the agenda is.

    “The circumstance in which it was announced appears somewhat funny, but let us see what we can make of it. However it is described, if it is another opportunity to talk, why not talk?”

    NIALS Director-General Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN) said the falling standard of education was more manifest at the primary and secondary school levels, explaining that many secondary school leavers could not write or speak basic english.

    He said: “The decline is at the lowest level of education. You do not learn brighter grammar at the Law Faculty. If you do not get it right in the primary and secondary schools, forget it.”

    Azinge criticised ASUU for allegedly not contributing enough to academic research, saying: “Let ASUU tell us what it has done for the country in terms of research. America is talking of driverless cars and we cannot even manufacture a bicycle!”

    He recommended making law a secondary university course, saying: “Is it not time we made law a graduate study? Can’t we return it to a graduate programme?”

    Most of today’s law graduates, Azinge said, no longer possess the “dignity, decorum and confidence” required of lawyers. The festival continues till Friday.