As the Publisher of dailyexcessive I have been seeing a lot of comments in recent weeks, questioning the whereabouts of the Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, with some even inferring that the very amiable, well spoken, and charismatic Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, and number two man in the country, may be dead.
I have pondered on the reason behind such thoughts for a while, knowing fully well that the Vice President is obviously alive, and busy holding important meetings at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, almost on a daily basis, and giving updates which I see on his Instagram page.
I even went a step further, in a bid to douse these thoughts that all may not be well with the Vice President, by instructing our Social Media Manager to give an update on our platforms each and every time the Vice President shares details of his daily activities, so that our followers and readers who may not likely follow him, can see that he is well, alive, and working from the safe space of his office, even though I may not be in the position to speak as his Spokesperson.
Nonetheless, these little efforts of mine to prove in my own way that the Vice President is healthy and alive, may have helped, but I could not help but notice a lot of Nigerians still doubting the authenticity of the pictures released daily, with some claiming that they are photoshopped, some saying they are old pictures, others demanding for a live video of the Vice President stating that he is alive, well and fine, before they would believe that he is indeed okay, and some others making it crystal clear that they can never again believe anything this government says or does.
This got me deeper in my thoughts, as to why these individuals who are being governed, do not trust those that govern them, because that appeared to be the case for me; simply lack of trust, which could be disastrous even in a relationship, or any other business venture.
With my analysis as to the genesis of this lack of trust that has now come to be between Nigerians and the present Leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, government, it occurred to me that this lack of trust did not start today; it is something that has been building up since the coming of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
What can you expect of the people, when the Minister of Information, who is supposed to be the honest voice that communicates between the people and the government, has since his inception, been tagged as a LIAR; who is to be blamed for that?
What do you expect when on several occasions in a democracy, the Leaders have just done what they like and how they please, without providing any explanations to the people they govern, even when those explanations are sought for by the people?
What do you expect from the people, when something that should be as easy and interactive as a Presidential broadcast in a pandemic, where the President can interact with Journalists freely, hear and answer the concerns from the people directly, becomes a topic of national debate, and done in a manner which causes may suspicion?
I cannot even list all the circumstances that may have led to this level of distrust the Nigerian people now have for the government in power, and I do not know what can be done by the Buhari government to gain this trust back at this point.
However, for every Nigerian deeply concerned about the well being of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, from the little updates I see on his social media handle daily, I can assure you that he is alive and working hard to see that the economy does not collapse, amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Also, if you love him so much that you worry about him, the least you can do is say a prayer for him.
Thank you.