By Sunday Akinloye

If you are an ardent reader of Nigerian newspapers, you will find that they love the name Osinbajo. They can put it on all their headlines if they have to, my guess, is that they get more clicks whenever the name Osinbajo is in the headline.

I wouldn’t be surprised if one Nigeria newspaper comes up with the headline, “Osinbajo watches as Real Madrid beat Barcelona in El Clasico”. That is how these newspapers are wired nowadays.

On Thursday, 22 August, my attention was called to a Vanguard newspaper headline on Twitter, “Osinbajo storms in as, Adamu, Shehuri, Kategu, Sylva, Akume take oaths”. The headline was ludicrous to say the least.

Not only did the Vice President not “storm in” as claimed by Vanguard, the VP had nothing to do with the swearing-in but Vanguard Newspaper were hell-bent on finding a way to input the name that gave them so much joy.

But it is not only Vanguard that is in this trade. Punch newspaper once wrote a story, published on the cover of their newspaper with the same name. The headline read, “Osinbajo's firm linked to company fingered in alleged N100bn Alpha Beta scam”.

For headline huggers, the VP was in trouble but for those who read the story, Punch was a purveyor of fake news. They maligned the Vice President just to sell some copies of their newspaper. For those who read the story, the VP had nothing to do with the deal. The claim that SimmonCoopers were he once worked was Company Secretary to Alpha Beta was also false.

Punch like Vanguard played on the intelligence of Nigerians by using the name Osinbajo to sell their papers. But they are not the only players in the media sector, most medium are involved in this offline and online.

A few days ago, TheNation newspaper published a story with the headline, “Join APC before your party dies, Osinbajo tells PDP”, supposedly what the VP said at the 80th birthday celebration of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

For those of us who are wiser, we know it is a ploy, so we don’t click on these links anymore but for the unsuspecting the clicks rang in their hundreds. The truth is the VP never said that, he made a joke about a Republican politician in the US who wanted to switch to the Democrat Party in his dying hour because he did not want the headlines to read, “A Republican Senator Died” and at the end he said politicians from other parties were welcome in the APC.

So why is the media trying to paint the VP in a bad light? Why do they want to soil a man that has built his reputation for decades? Why are they quick to write false stories about the man but reluctant to publish positive stories?

Professionalism goes beyond clicks, maligning the name of a good person should mean more than selling newspapers.

Ask the Nigerian people and they will tell you all sorts of positive things about the VP. From his Family Chats to Mediation to political and economic intervention, no one comes close. He’s the people’s politician. He is closer to the grassroot than local government chairmen, that’s just who he is.

A testament of this was when he visited Ebonyi state to commission projects but in his usual style stopped by the home of a beneficiary of N-Power. After crying and praying profusely for the VP, here’s what Emelda Onyeika had to say.
“I had two cups of rice in the house that very day, when alert dropped (N-Power alert), I had to thank God for everything because I know what have been passing through, if not that am I nursing mother, I uses to soak garri overnight to enable me drink it. So I can breastfeed my baby.”

Prof. Osinbajo is man that is loved and respected locally and international. As chairman of the National Economic Council he has earned the praises of governors who described him as one of the finest leaders in Nigeria’s history.

Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai says the Vice President has a unique leadership style and humility, noting that the VP treated all (governors) equally regardless of party affiliations. That is who he is, a detribalized politician and leader.

Former Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed a member of the opposition, said that the VP “led a strong team through various areas requiring attention in the economy. He made robust efforts in security giving direction, confidence and comfort.”

Here’s how Senator Kashim Shettima put it, the Vice President provided leadership and in the past four years, he exhibited humility, giving everyone a sense of belonging."

so wat do u want us as Nigerians to do about it?? or should we also gullibly read anything with the name osinbanjo too??