Yemi Osinbajo probably needs little or no introduction to Nigerians. He is the current Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; a position often referred to as the second citizen of the country. He is also a well-celebrated professor of law who has attained the highest position in the country’s bar.
But beyond his popularity due to politics, who is Yemi Osinbajo, the eloquent English speaker who is famous for meeting with ordinary Nigerians across the length and breadth of the country and who, by marital affiliation, is related to one of the country’s foremost nationalist and post-independence leaders?
Table of Content hide 1Biography 2Career 3Political career 4Office of the Vice President 5Achievements 6Membership 7National honours and traditional titles 8Net worth 9Family 102023 presidential bidBiography
Oluyemi “Yemi” Oluleke Osinbajo was born on March 8, 1957, at the Creek Hospital, Lagos State. He is the son of the late Opeoluwa Adeyemi Osinbajo and Olubisi Osinbajo. Although born in Lagos, Osinbajo hails from Ogun State.
He attended Corona School, Lagos, for his primary school education. He enrolled at Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos, where he had his secondary school education. While at Igbobi College, Osinbajo distinguished himself as a brilliant and exceptional student as he won the following awards: the State Merit Award (1971); the School Prize for English Oratory (1972); Adeoba Prize for English Oratory (1972-1975); Elias Prize for Best Performance in History (WASC, 1973); School Prize for Literature (HSC, 1975); and African Statesman Intercollegiate Best Speaker’s Prize (1974).
He then proceeded to the University of Lagos, where he studied Law from 1975 to 1979 and graduated with a Second Class Honours (Upper Division) Degree. The future Vice President further exemplified his intellectual capability while in UNILAG, as he won the Graham-Douglas Prize for Commercial Law. He attended Nigerian Law School in 1979 for the mandatory one-year professional training and was subsequently admitted to practice as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria the following year. In 1981, he was awarded a Master of Laws at the London School of Economics (LSE).
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Career
Osinbajo began his career in 1979 as a legal officer with Bendel Development and Planning Authority (BDPA) in the defunct Bendel State during the mandatory one-year youth service. Upon the completion of his Master’s programme, he was employed by his alma mater, UNILAG, as a law lecturer. He was promoted in 1982 to the position of senior lecturer by the same university and served in the position for three years.
In 1988, Osinbajo was appointed as an Adviser (Legal Advice and Litigation) to the then Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Bola Ajibola, and served in this position until 1992. By 1994, he was promoted to the exalted position of Professor of Law, the highest rank for any academician working in the Law Department. He was subsequently appointed as the Head of the Department of Public Law, UNILAG, in 1997 and remained in the position until 1999.
Following the country’s return to democracy in 1999, Osinbajo was appointed by Bola Tinubu, Governor of Lagos State, as the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Lagos State. By virtue of his appointment, he also became a Member of the Cabinet of the Lagos State Government. He served the government for eight years and left after the tenure of Tinubu elapsed in 2007.
Upon leaving government in 2007, Osinbajo ventured into private law practice and was made Senior Partner at Simmons Cooper Partners, Nigeria, a commercial law firm. In the same year, he was re-employed as a Professor of Law in the Department of Public Law of UNILAG. He was also, at times, a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Lagos State University. He lectured at the university until 2013,
From 2006 to 2013, Osinbajo also served in the following positions:
- Staff Member, United Nations Operations in Somalia, Justice Division, UNOSOM II.
- Member, United Nations Secretary General’s Committee of Experts on Conduct and Discipline of UN, Peacekeeping Personnel around the globe, 2006.
- Partner in Law Firm of Osinbajo, Kukoyi & Adokpaye
Osinbajo is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the highest title conferred on legal practitioners in Nigeria. He is also an ordained pastor, as he was the pastor in charge of the Lagos Province 48 (Olive Tree provincial headquarters) of the Redeemed Christian Church of God before his venture into politics.
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Political career
The All Progressives Congress (APC) was established in February 2013 in a bid to unseat the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The APC was a merger of the three largest opposition political parties: the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), along with a breakaway faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the new PDP – a faction of the PDP.
Following the formation of the APC, Osinbajo was chosen alongside other individuals to produce a manifesto for the new political party. The law professor contributed his quota to the task, and the final product: “Roadmap to a New Nigeria,” was presented to Nigerians as the party’s manifesto.
Osinbajo’s life catapulted to another level in December 2014 after Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the APC, announced the former university lecturer as his running mate and the vice-presidential candidate of the APC for the 2015 presidential election. Osinbajo immediately swung into action, either moving with the presidential candidate or embarking on solo trips campaigning for what had now become the main opposition party in the country.
A shocker occurred as the APC won the 2015 presidential election via the Buhari-Osinbajo ticket, the first time that an opposition party would stage the party in government at the federal level.
Office of the Vice President
Osinbajo was inaugurated as the Vice President of Nigeria on May 29, 2015. Upon assumption of office, President Buhari assigned him to oversee the economic planning team and report, as well as make recommendations to the president. He was appointed as the Chairman of the Economic Management Team (EMT). He served in that position throughout the first term until the team was dissolved by the president in September 2019.
The Vice President became the acting President of the country in February 2016, after President Buhari went on a six-day vacation. The President had transmitted a letter to the National Assembly, informing the legislators of his plan to travel for a short break and the transfer of his powers to Osinbajo, in line with Section 145 (1) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended). Osinbajo served as acting President for five days, from February 5-10, 2016.
Osinbajo assumed the position of acting President for the second time in June 2016, when the President took a vacation to London to attend to an ear infection. During this period, he transmitted a letter to the National Assembly seeking the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as substantive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
The announcement for his third stint as acting President was made while he was in far away Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit on January 19, 2017. He returned to the country the following day and presided over the country in an acting capacity for over a month. He, however, took a politically daring but legal position when he sent the name of Justice Walter Onnoghen to the Senate for confirmation as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, despite opposition from persons barely identified as the “cabals” in the administration. Osinbajo swore him into office on March 7, 2017.
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Osinbajo became acting President for the fourth time, and he served in that capacity for 105 days from May to August 2017, following President Buhari’s medical vacation/trip. One of the main functions he performed was the swearing-in of Stephen Ocheni, and Suleiman Hassan from Kogi and Gombe states, respectively, as ministers of the republic.
His fifth stint as acting President in 2018 was more consequential, as he made several big-hitting executive positions. On August 7, 2018, Osinbajo authorised the sacking of Lawal Daura, Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), over the illegal invasion of the National Assembly by armed and masked operatives of the department. He swiftly replaced the dismissed Daura with Matthew Seiyefa. Exactly seven days later, the acting President ordered a total overhaul of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a special operations unit in the Nigeria Police Force, following complaints by Nigerians over the conduct of the unit’s personnel. This directive eventually led to the disbandment of SARS by the Inspector-General of Police.
As Vice President, Osinbajo became the face of the Buhari administration’s National Social Investments Programmes (NSIP), launched in 2016 to tackle poverty and hunger across the country. The NSIP was under his office during the current government’s first term, and he was visible in markets across the country, handing out cash to traders, artisans, enterprising youth, and women for the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), better known as Trader Moni.
The APC got a second term from the electorate in the 2019 presidential election, and President Buhari, who flew the party’s flag, decided to retain Osinbajo as his Vice President. However, it seems the functions assigned to his office were whittled down as the EMT, as earlier mentioned, was disbanded, and the NSIP supervision was transferred to the newly-created Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development.
He, however, remains the Chairman of the National Economic Committee (NEC), which advises the President concerning the economic affairs of the Federation. He is also the Chairman of other committees such as the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), the National Steering Committee (NSC) of the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (NPRGS), the Health Sector Reform Committee, the Expanded Partnership Committee on Sustainable Blue Economy and the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).
The Vice President is also a key member of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), which he chairs anytime the president is unavailable to preside, and serves as the Deputy Chairman of the Council of State.
Achievements
The following achievements are credited to Osinbajo’s name:
- While in public office as Attorney General, Lagos, he is credited with undertaking far-reaching significant judicial reform in Lagos State, addressing critical areas such as judges’ recruitment, remuneration, training, and discipline.
- He addressed access to justice for the poor by establishing appropriate institutions in the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) and the Citizens Mediation Centre (CMC), thereby repositioning the ministry from a “law and order” agency under the military to a citizen-focused department of justice. The OPD provides government-funded free legal services, while the Citizens Mediation Centres offers Small Claims Mediation
- He also established the Orderly Society Trust (OST), a charity involved in an Excel literacy programme that aims to provide children in public primary schools with the same level of training in English as is available to their counterparts in private schools
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Membership
Osinbajo is a member of the following professional bodies:
- Nigerian Bar Association
- International Bar Association
- Nigerian Body of Benchers
- Council of Legal Education in Nigeria and Senior Advocate of Nigeria
National honours and traditional titles
- Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), Nigeria’s second-highest individual award
- The “Enyioha 1 (Abia)
- The Obong Emem Ibom (Akwa Ibom)
- The Jagaban (Adamawa)
- The Madagun Jihar (Nasarawa)
- The Olori Ogun of Yorubaland (Osun)
- The Ada Idaha ke Efik Eburutu (Cross River)
- The Garkuwan Yamma Nupe (Niger)
- The Danmadamin Daura (Katsina)
- The Ebiyiakubo-Owei Keni of Angia-Ibe (Bayelsa)
Net worth
As an elected government official, Osinbajo is, by law, expected to formally declare his assets. The Vice President has done so twice in 2015 and 2019, respectively.
According to his declaration form, Osinbajo says he had N94 million and $900,000, respectively, in his bank account. He also listed the following properties as his own: a four-bedroom residence at Victoria Garden City, Lagos; a three-bedroom flat at 2, Mosley Road, Ikoyi; a two-bedroom flat along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway; and a two-bedroom mortgaged property in Bedford, England.
Other assets declared are his law firm, known as SimmonsCooper, and shareholding in six private companies based in Lagos, including Octogenerium Ltd., Windsor Grant Ltd., Tarapolsa, Vistorion Ltd., Aviva Ltd., and MTN Nigeria.
Family
Osinbajo got married on November 25, 1989, to his wife, Dolapo Osinbajo (née Soyode). Dolapo is a granddaughter of the late Obafemi Awolowo, the Premier of the defunct Western region. The couple has three children: two daughters, Damilola and Kanyinsola (popularly known as Kiki), and a son, Fiyinfoluwa.
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Damilola got married to Oluseun Bakare in March 2018, and the couple is currently blessed with a son.
2023 presidential bid
In April 2022, Osinbajo declared his intention to run for the Office of President under the platform of the APC. According to him, having being Vice President for seven years, travelled to every state in the country, interacting with Nigerians, as well as served on various committees, and received critical briefings, he has been placed on a pedestal by the Almighty to use the knowledge he has gained in his current position to better the lives of Nigerians and continue from where his principal, President Buhari, will stop upon the expiration of his tenure.
He insisted that his only reason for aspiring to the number one seat in the country was to serve Nigerians. However, it was a shock to some Nigerians that Osinbajo decided to jostle for the APC presidential ticket because Bola Tinubu, widely regarded as the Vice President’s political godfather, was also in the race.
Indeed, it was Tinubu who, as Governor of Lagos State, appointed Osinbajo as the state’s Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, a position in which the latter served for eight years. It was also Tinubu who recommended Osinbajo to President Buhari as his Vice President, as revealed by Bisi Akande, a former Osun State Governor and the first Interim Chairman of the APC in his autobiography entitled: My Participations.
Despite the concerns of going up against the man who gave him his breakthrough in politics, Osinbajo soldiered on. Following his declaration, the law professor swung into action as he traversed the length and breadth of the country to meet with the APC delegates to convince them why he was the best man for Nigeria’s top job and to solicit their votes
However, Osinbajo came third in the APC presidential primary held in June 2022, with a total vote of 235 votes, behind Tinubu and Rotimi Amaechi (former Rivers State Governor and ex-minister of transportation), respectively.
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