By Reporter
…Declares Support for Power Rotation and Zoning!
A former governor of Edo State and two-term senator, His Excellency, Prof Oserheimen Osunbor has disclosed that he is happy with the emergence of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Speaking to Midwest Herald yesterday, Osunbor expressed joy that Nigeria will witness the long expected change.
“I am happy with the new government formed by APC and in the person of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I canvassed a lot for him based on his track record, based on his antecedents, based on what I know about him and his capacity to really bring about the much needed change in Nigeria.
“He is just barely one week in office but you can see that he has not rested, he has been doing a lot to ensure that as he promised, he hits the ground running.
“He has already made significant appointments and almost from the word go, he was confronted with the challenge of a looming industrial action by the NLC and the TUC.
“I am sure that we are all impressed by the swiftness with which he addressed the grievance of Labour to the extent that they have reached a truce. The strike which was threatening to commence, has now been suspended in order to give the new administration time to settle down and come out with its own solutions to cushion the pain and hardship that the ending of the subsidy scheme will bring about. The firmer governor said.
“So I think I am impressed so far and every Nigerian should be impressed.
“The president is exuding a lot of energy. He is beginning to bring to bear the power of his intellect because as we said before, he doesn’t pride himself as having raw muscle, raw power but he has brain power and I am sure that with his brain power, he will be able to address the myriads of problems that confronts us as a country.
“He has a firm understanding of what the problem is and I believe he has the capacity to address them.
On the mountain of debts that the previius administration left behind, the distinguished senator agreed that it was a challenge but submitted that Tinubu has the expertise to manoeuvre the country through.
“We have a huge debt overhang which will be a burden but I respect his acumen, his thinking capacity. Drawing from his experience as an operator in the financial sector, he will be able to come up with solutions at least in the short term to address those things that Nigerians will really want to see addressed as quickly as possible.”
Speaking on the ongoing agitation for political balancing of the leadership of the National Assembly, Osunbor agreed on the need to rotate power amongst geopolitical zones at tbe national level and senatorial districts in states.
“I believe that should be done in states. There should be rotation among the senatorial districts in the states.
“Once the governor and the deputy governor emerge, the other positions will be zoned; where does the speaker come from? Once the number one emerges, then you zone the others in the state.
“And as I said, the whole idea is to integrate people and build a sense of belonging amongst all the divergent peoples or religions for national cohesion, for state cohesion, for amity, for peace and progress because if there is no peace and progress, it can be costly.”
Sen. Prof Oserheimen Aigberaodion Osunbor was born at Iruekpen in present day Edo State, Nigeria.
He had his primary and secondary school education in Edo State. He gained admission into the Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus in 1971 from which he graduated in 1975 with a First Class Honours Degree, thus becoming the first Nigerian in that University to set that record.
He attended the Nigerian Law School, Victoria Island 1975-76 where he won the prize for the best overall student at the Bar Examination in 1976.
Prof Osunbor proceeded to the University of Warwick, England in 1977 as a Rhodes Scholar, having won the scholarship in his final year of undergraduate studies, based on his outstanding academic performance.
He successfully completed his Ph.D in Company Law at Warwick and in March 1981 returned to start his academic career as a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos. In the 1986/87 session he was a Visiting Fellow at the Queen’s University of Belfast.
He was appointed a Professor of Law at the Lagos State University in 1990 from where he retired as Dean Faculty of Law in January 1999 to contest election to the Senate which he won.
He was a delegate to the Constitutional Conference 1994-1995.
Senator Prof Osunbor was the pioneer Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC during his first term.
At his second term in 2003 he was appointed Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.
Prof. Osunbor was governor of Edo State from May 2007 to November 2008.
In May 2011 he was appointed member of the Nigerian Law Reform Commission. In 2013, he was elevated to the position of Chairman of the Commission, a position from which he resigned voluntarily in March 2015 having become a member of All Progressives Congress.
He is a member of the National Caucus of the ruling APC. He has served as Consultant to many national and international organisations such as the World Bank Group on Foreign Investments in Nigeria.
He is currently Head of Nigerian Delegation to the International Standards Organisation (ISO) TC 309 on the development of an International Standard on Good Governance.
He is the co-convenor of ISO 37003 WG8 Fraud Control Management Systems.
With the call for power rotation in the governorship election in Edo State, to Central Senatorial Districts, the calm, calculating and intelligent Prof Osunbor’s credential aptly fits the requirements listed by the Esan Initiative as possible successor to Mr. Godwin Obaseki.