We Have Confidence In Osinbajo – US, UK

The United States of America and the United Kingdom have expressed no doubt in the ability and commitment of Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to continue with the anti-corruption war and economic revival in Nigeria.

The two countries told Punch that they have confidence in Osinbajo to carry on with the quality leadership President Muhammadu Buhari has been providing the country.

This is coming on the heels of public outrage and fears expressed by Nigerians over Buhari’s deteriorating health and continued absence from public.

The President left for the UK last Sunday to receive medical attention and he is expected to be there for an indefinite time, according to his media aide, Femi Adesina.

In his last medical trip to Britain, Buhari was away for 49 days.

In recent times, prominent Nigerians had expressed angst over a cabal that has purportedly hijacked power in the Presidency due to Buhari’s protracted illness, leaving Osinbajo in the cold.

The US and the UK, however, told Punch that they believe the VP would take off from where the President stopped when he jetted out of the country to the UK for further medical attention.

When asked if the US Government was worried that Buhari’s poor health could slow down ongoing anti-corruption war in Nigeria, the spokesman for the US Embassy in Nigeria, Russell Brooks, said President Donald Trump’s administration believed in Buhari and Osinbajo.

Brooks said, “We are very much in favour of President (Muhammadu) Buhari’s campaign against corruption. We also believe that Acting President (Yemi) Osinbajo is strongly committed to this agenda and will continue to pursue it while President Buhari is out of the country.”

Speaking in a similar vein, the spokesman for the UK High Commission in Nigeria, Joseph Abuku, stated that while the British Government could not comment on whether any crisis resulting from Buhari’s protracted ill-health would lead Nigeria into political instability, he said the UK had confidence in the President and his deputy.

“The Vice President is acting President in President (Muhammadu) Buhari’s absence. The United Kingdom has full confidence in both he (Osinbajo) and President Buhari. Questions on President Buhari’s health should be directed to his office.”