Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says serving under President Muhammadu Buhari has exposed and taught him how to govern a complex country like Nigeria. 

“I have had the honour of serving under a transparent leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, who exposed me very diligently to all that there is to know about governing a complex and very diverse country such as ours,” Mr Osinbajo said. 

“With the experience that God has given me and the exposure that I have had, including being acting President on occasions; if God enables me to become president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I think my experience, all I’ve learned, will be extremely useful.”

A statement released on Tuesday by Mr Osinbajo’s media aide, Laolu Akande, said that the vice president made this statement at the Palace of the Emir of Gombe, Abubakar Shehu Abubakar, during a visit to the state to canvass for votes from All Progressives Congress (APC) delegates ahead of the ruling party’s 2023 primary election.

Since declaring his interest to contest in next year’s presidential election, Mr Osinbajo has seized every opportunity to harp on building on the legacy of the Buhari regime if elected president; a rhetoric that has earned him widespread criticisms.

The Buhari legacy upon which Mr Osinbajo says he’ll build his presidency on has been tainted by heightened insecurity in the country as bandits, insurgents, unknown gunmen and criminals continue to kill, kidnap and wreak havoc across the country.

Under Mr Buhari, Nigeria in 2018 displaced India to become the world’s poverty capital, according to a report by Brookings Institution, while rising inflation rates have sent prices of food and commodities through the roof, even as the CBN battles foreign exchange crisis.

In the area of employment, whereas the Buhari regime claims that it has lifted 10.5 million Nigerians out of poverty, the World Bank estimates that seven million Nigerians dropped below the poverty line due to worsening inflation in the country in 2020.