Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has advised Nigerians to reject politicians trying to use “sectional sentiments” to take power.
According to Daily Trust, the vice president gave the advice while speaking at the inaugural conference of APC Professional Forum themed “The Role of Professionals in Politics and National Building” held at the Old Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja, on Monday.
He said professionals who are politicians must stand out as people acquainted with an assessment based on their achievements and used to making competence as the first means of showcasing their acumen.
He said there was no point to have professionals in politics if they were driven by ethnic, religious and other parochial considerations, stressing that “the whole point of professionalism is that you are defined by merit, you are defined by your professional acumen.”
He said, “Let me conclude with the following thoughts for further consideration. The usefulness of professionals in politics is that you have people who are used to being assessed on the basis of their own achievements, who are unafraid to make competence the first advertorial of their acumen. In other words, professionals emphasise the role of merit in public life.
“And I just emphasise that there is no point having professionals in politics if these professionals are driven by ethnic, religious and other parochial considerations because the whole point of professionalism is that you are defined by merit, you are defined by your professional acumen.
“Nobody would place their lives in the hands of an incompetent doctor because they share the same faith or continue to patronize a dangerously inept mechanic because they belong to the same tribe. If someone told me, for example, that the pilot who is to fly the plane that I’m to go in is not a very good pilot, but he’s from Ikenne, my hometown, I certainly won’t go in that plane. So, in the same way, we must especially refuse to be swayed by those whose sole argument for power is an appeal to sectional sentiments. We must resist it. And we must say no to it, because otherwise, we fail in our professional calling.”
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