Prof. Osinbajo with General Muhammadu Buhari
Many Nigerian news outlets are obsessed with the spelling “Osibajo” for no known reason. Maybe the meaning of his name is not easily accessible to the younger Yoruba generation. All they will tell you is that OSIN is a water bird and AJO is a journey. Now to connect the two and make sense out of it is left to the older generation.
Prof. Yemi Osinbajo’s well-wishers will certainly hope his journey to Aso Rock will be as smooth as “OSIN” sailing on water. Although it is might be difficult to understand what Osinbajo means to some readers (and wriers). In his native Ijebu, one of the oldest and most distinct dialects of the Yoruba language, OSIN could also refer to a “child” and Osinbajo (Osin bo lati ajo) could then be interpreted to mean a child has returned from a journey ─ a good sign that all went well. In that case, his well-wishers would be hoping that his journey into politics will be worth the while and they will have every reason to rejoice when he ends his national service. We hope Osinbajo himself will take time, when he is less busy, to explain the meaning of his name to us for our education.
Everybody who got it wrong should, however, be forgiven: Osinbajo is but a new “kid” on the block. He has been limited to the intellectual and ecclesiastical circles since he left government in 2007. After all, we are still struggling with spelling the names of more visible Nigerians such as Alamieyeseigha, Diezani and Imoukhuede. Even some Igbo would rather call the finance minister Ngozi Okonji-Iweala than Okonjo-Iweala. And the governor of Benue state was called Gabriel Suswan for ages until people finally agreed that even if a swan swam for a million miles, Gabriel’s surname would still be SUSWAM. And Ghaddafi? Oh no, let’s not go there.
He is a SAN, Yes, he is a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), but what else do you expect a man who has taught and practised law all his adult life? He is married to the house of Obafemi Awolowo, arguably the greatest Yoruba politician ever and a distinguished public administrator described by the late Chukwuemeka Ojukwu as “the best president Nigeria never had”. Oludolapo, his wife and mother of his three children, is a granddaughter of the late sage. What else? Yemi is from Ogun state originally, but he served Lagos as commissioner and is therefore also from Lagos. What more? His brother, Akin, was the attorney-general of Ogun state from 2003-2007, the first and only time two blood brothers known to have held commissionerships in different states at the same time. What again? Akin and Yemi look so much alike, but we must now reveal that one is shorter and smaller than the other. Guess who.
He attended Igbobi College in Lagos and was a classmate of Dele Alake, former commissioner for information and strategy in Lagos. Osinbajo studied law at the University of Lagos (1978) and got a master’s from the London School of Economics and Political Science (1980). He was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1979. The professor of law was the head of department of public law at the University of Lagos (1997-1999). He is a member of the International Bar Association and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and has served in the Nigerian Body of Benchers and the Council for Legal Education of Nigeria. I almost forgot to say he is the senior partner at SimmonsCooper Partners, a law firm, where he earns his living.
He is an Author, Aso Rock is not the right place to author books ─ you are too busy to do that. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo just launched a three-part book made up of over 1000 pages, but you have to realise he left office over seven years ago. It has taken seven years to release a book brimming with acid and poison. Osinbajo has been writing his own intellectual books, not memoirs, which are more difficult. He may be an author but he will not be doing that in the presidency.
From left to right – Mr Femi Banwo, Mr Babtude Irukera and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo SAN at Closing Dinner Ceremony of SCAD Compete 2014
