•Says, I was nominated by someone, somewhere
•Urges militants to stop blowing oil pipelines

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

Prof. Yemi Osinbajo yesterday re-opened the controversy over who nominated him as the Vice President. Clearing the air, the Vice President said a highly-placed Nigerian whom he did not reveal, actually nominated him.
The controversy broke out three weeks ago after the launch of a book: “Muhammadu Buhari: Challenges of Leadership,” by an American author, Prof. John Paden, who claimed in a portion of the book that Osinbajo emerged as Vice President despite pressure by the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to Paden, three names were submitted to Buhari to pick as his running mate among Tinubu, Babatunde Fashola and Osinbajo and he settled for the latter.
Pallen wrote that: “with Buhari coming from the North-West, the vice presidency had been ceded to the South-West geopolitical zone,”.
But the Secretary to the Lagos State Government (SSG), Tunji Bello, had fired back, last week, saying Paden’s account was half-truth.
Bello, who was Commissioner for the Environment and Osinbajo, Commissioner of Justice in the Tinubu administration (1999-2007), said he (Bello) was involved in the process that produced the vice president.
He said Tinubu settled for Osinbajo, saying that as a legal luminary and a royal progressive as well as a democrat and being married to a grand-daughter of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, it will not be difficult selling him to the South-West establishment.
But on Wednesday night, Osinbanjo confirmed that he was recommended to the position by someone in high place whose name he, however, did not disclose.
He spoke at the presidential dinner organised for over 200 graduates and beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programmes at the Old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said: “I was in a group of young men and women and one of them asked the question, how did I become Vice President, I was never a politician or anything like that?
“So, I tried to explain it is quite simple that someone, somewhere has to recommend you. Somebody, somewhere has to give you a helping hand.
“Whether to be a vice president or to be an aircraft pilot or to be an engineer, somebody, somewhere has to give you an opportunity and I think all of you that are here today are the beneficiaries of the opportunities that you have somehow received.
“And this is why this event is so important. I think that it is one way we have to remind ourselves that we are bound as individuals to give opportunities to everyone”, Osinbajo noted.
Osinbajo urged the Niger Delta militants to lay down their arms and embrace peace, saying Nigeria indeed, the region, was the greatest loser of pipeline vandalisation.
According to him, blowing up pipelines was like cutting one’s nose to spite the face.
The beneficiaries were trained as pilots, automobile and electric transformer technicians among other skills, both in Nigerian and in foreign institutions.
Out of the 260 outstanding graduands, 45 graduated with a First Class while 171 came out with Second-Class Upper Division.
Osinbajo urged militants to stop bombing of oil pipelines, stressing that it had large negative effect on them, their region, the country and even the generations yet unborn.
He said: “The fact that you did so well was a tremendous opportunity for other people.
“We all have the responsibility to ensure that the future of the country is one that is secure. That cannot happen under the atmosphere of conflict.
“There is no point blowing up pipelines. If they are blown up, who are the losers at the end of the day, all of us. Even the upcoming ones”.
The Vice President said the successful completion of the educational and vocational training of the former militants will make their future brighter.
He noted that government had by the programme given them the opportunity to harness their God’s given potentials, urging them to pass the skill they have acquired to others too.
Earlier, the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh (retd), said the Buhari administration was committed to securing Niger Delta and giving the youths in the area an opportunity to excel.
“The President is fully committed to the development of Amnesty Programme in the Niger Delta region. The programme has provided a platform for engagements.
“Nigeria is celebrated and rated as one of the big countries today because of the achievements of the illustrious graduates,” he said.
According to him, some of the beneficiaries who majored in automobile engineering were able to build a 30-feet luxury bus even as he called on some other agitators to join the programme.
“They manufactured 30-feet luxury bus at Innoson Motors from start to finish.
One of the First Class graduates, Alexander Obiechna, thanked the President for the programme.
He also called on the government to sustain the scheme to accommodate other ex-agitators.
“We solicit for the sustenance of the programmes,” he said.