Omokri Blasts Buhari, Osinbajo Over Economic Recession

In a Facebook Post titled: “What Recession Does to People!” Omokri ran an analysis of the effects of recession on various sectors of the nation, hitting hard at leaders and some popular Nigerians.

The post reads thus: “When recession hits the economy, it leads to inflation. When it hits INEC it leads to ‘inconclusive elections’. When it hits APC, they turn Graduate to Conductors.

“When it hits Davido he stops singing ’emi omo baba olowo’ and starts singing ‘gba be oshi’. When it hits P-Square they stop singing ‘chop my money’ and start singing ‘bank alert’. When it hits Nollywood stars, they stop flashing cleavages and bum and start flashing you with calls.

“When it hits E-Money, he stops spraying dollar with spraying machine and starts spraying Naira by hand. When it hits UAC they start making gala with sausage only at the end and none in the middle.

“When it hits Vice President Yemi Osinbajo he forgets mathematics and blames Jonathan for looting $15 billion arms fund though less than $10 billion was budgeted for defence under Jonathan.

“When it hits President Buhari, he stops promising change and starts blaming Goodluck Jonathan! The incurable Responsibility Dodgers Syndrome afflicting the current administration has reached alarming proportions such that they have turned the weekly meetings of the federal executive council into blame Jonathan sessions.

“Rightly, agents of the government of the day have earned the unflattering sobriquet, Responsibility Dodgers, because, the big guns in this government, despite their manifest unpreparedness for office and obvious cluelessness, have continued to blame past administrations, especially that of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, for their own failure.

“It is even most disappointing that a clergyman like Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a Professor of law, who incidentally is also the head of the administration’s economic team would join the fray.

“The latest outburst from Professor Osinbajo was made in a paper he presented at an event in the United States last Monday, where he claimed that the Jonathan administration was never committed to defeating Boko Haram. Really?

“Let me remind our revered Vice President of a statement made by his boss when the then President Goodluck Jonathan unleashed the firepower of the Nigerian Army on Boko Haram.

“Let us recall that at one point, while addressing pastors and leaders at a retreat of the Fountain of Life Church in Lagos, Osinbajo had also claimed that the Governments of Jonathan and that of late President Umaru Yar’Adua didn’t build a single road in ten years!

“On the issue of recession and how to get out of it, the Vice President has continued to dither. In one breathe, he had blamed the downturn on the past administration, and in another, he found it convenient to put the blame on pipeline vandalism

“In the first place, he has continued to raise wide and baseless allegations of an embezzled $15 billion security equipment fund, without any shred of evidence. Again, I state that this is the kind of loose and trite talk that a Vice President should never be associated with. Also, when he insists that the military were poorly equipped, he is simply being economical with the truth.

“I have to painfully admit that, going by his insensitive and offhand comments, Osinbajo has not impressed Nigerians either as a Senior Advocate, pastor or Vice President. We believe that as a senior lawyer, he understands that his garb of silk conveys on him the responsibility of speaking factually and evidentially.

“We are also convinced that as a Vice President, his office requires that he speaks with decorum and respect at all times. Above all, as a minister of the gospel, apparently schooled in the forbearing ways of the Saviour, his utterances should only seek to heal, and not revile. Unfortunately, Osinbajo has failed woefully on all these counts.

“I urge Vice President Osinbajo to rummage the archives to bring himself up to speed on how Chief Alex Ekwueme, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and Arch. Namadi Sambo, all reputable former Vice Presidents, functioned during their time, to make themselves effective in office.

“We have to point out that while the economy bleeds, this Vice president as the head of the economic management team of the present administration, who ordinarily should be marshalling out policy initiatives, remains aloof and marooned. Let us not forget that he was the head of the economic team when padding was introduced in our budgeting lexicon.

“It appears that inflation, mounting job losses and collapsing economy, increasing hunger as well as worsening unemployment numbers, are not enough to rouse the Vice President to action. Otherwise, Osinbajo, did not have to wait for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the National Assembly to remind his Government that a humongous loan bid without a comprehensive economic blueprint, simply cannot fly.

“But did he need to be reminded that a depressed economy, or any economy at all, can never recover or flourish when placed on auto pilot, like Osinbajo and his team have done? The earlier Osinbajo realizes that a good Vice President avoids the distractions of tactless activism, the better for him.”