The credibility crisis following the US trip of Vice president Yemi Osinbajo took a new turn with a former US Assistant Secretary of Defense, Frank Gaffney, accusing him of being economical with the truth on the issue of Kidnappings in Nigeria. Vice president Osinbajo has, however, put the records straight on what happened in the United states, saying that in no place did he use the word “exergerated”.
Osinbajo had gone to the United states to discuss “matters of common interest” to both Nigeria and the US. Before then, he addressed Nigerians in Diaspora, where he down-played the security situation in Nigeria, particularly kidnapping. This attracted the ire of the Yoruba pan cultural group, Afenifere, who called him “a disgrace to the Yoruba race”. Former president Goodluck Jonathan said he lies more than the devil he preaches against.
His spokesperson, Laolu Akande, uploaded the edited version of the speech he delivered in the US.
”For the purpose of clarity, and the records, it is pertinent to state that Osinbajo was entirely misquoted and his words taken out of context in the said media reports especially those that quoted him as saying that.
“Kidnapping in Nigeria is exaggerated and not entirely new,” Akande said.
Akande then quoted the Vice president as saying that kidnaping is not new.
“With respect to general kidnapping which we have seen in certain parts of the country, again this is not entirely new. When you listen to some of the stories, some of them are simply not true anyway.
“Some are fueled by politics, but there are cases of kidnapping, there is no question at all about that…and every story we try to track and trace.
“When you track them, you find out that people just tell some stories, but the truth anyway is that there is kidnapping in places where it has taken place.”, Osinbajo said.
But Gaffney said, after Osinbajo met US Vice President Mike Pence Wednesday that, though Osinbajo is a christian, he is more protective of the government than his christian constituency.
Hear him: “Mr. Pence’s visitor…his Nigerian counterpart Yemi Osinbajo…is one of the very few Christians in a Nigerian government otherwise dominated by Islamist Fulani tribesmen. Unfortunately, Mr. Osinbajo is instead part of the problem.
Gaffney said Osinbajo was being economical with the truth this weekend in New York about anti christian persecution that ” his government is at least tolerating and, at worst, enabling. Osinbajo’s own tribe has sharply repudiated him for doing so.”
“If Vice President Pence makes clear that all the persecutors in Nigeria will be held accountable and face penalties, he may be able to prevent a catastrophe there on his and President Trump’s watch.”
Osinbajo’s trip was said to have been orchestrated by Nigerians in the US campaigning against the alleged Fulanization and Christian persecution in the country.
Tony Nnadi, the Secretary General of the Lower Niger Congress, has been traversing the whole of US for such a campaign.
Nnadi was part of a congressional round-table that looked at the insecurity and uncertainty in Nigeria. He had been traveling across the US to have town hall meetings. According to him, Osinbajo.s coming was in response to their activities. He said the US policy makers have gotten the truth as opposed to the false narrative that the government of Nigeria has been using “to cover the crime being committed.” Part of his group’s activities is the demand that the US appoint a special envoy to Nigeria to look at the Nigerian situation in which Fulani elements are trying to run over the whole country.
This singular controversy by the Vice President, who is also rumored to have eyes for the Presidency in 2023, may go some length in damaging his chances.
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