Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday night said he would rather leave  his position  as the nation’s Number Two man than compromise his Christian faith.

Osinbajo stated this while responding to posers raised by some Christian leaders at the stakeholders’ meeting held at the new Banquet Hall of the Benue State Government House, Makurdi.

He said under no circumstances would he give up his faith but would rather vacate his position as the nation’s Vice-President at the slightest attempt to cause him to abandon his Christian virtues.

One of the speakers, the Catholic Bishop of Gboko, His Lordship, Williams Avenya, had reminded Osinbajo of the then-presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign promises that he would not Islamise the country and would protect the interest of all Nigerians including citizens of minority ethnic groups if voted into power.

Quoting Buhari, the bishop said, “My deputy is a Christian and there is no way I will Islamise Nigeria with many Christians in my team.”

Avenya noted that the killing of Christians and members of the minority ethnic group particularly in Benue State had proved that the Federal Government under Buhari was not living up to these promises.

Facing Osinbajo, the bishop said, “The point I’m trying to make is that a day is going to come when you, as the Vice-President, will bear the brunt of that problem of injustices in our land, especially those perpetrated on smaller ethnic groups that have no one to fight for them.

“So, as a Christian person, exonerate yourself from this situation,” the bishop advised the VP.

Responding, the vice-president said, “My Lord Bishop, you said you are not a politician, I am also not a politician. As a matter of fact, I’m also a priest and I’m a Christian, a born again Christian. Because I’m a born again Christian, my destiny is not determined by any man but by God who I serve.

“Let me assure you that under no circumstances, none whatsoever, will I give up my faith or refuse to stand up for my faith.

“You can take that to the bank. Even the position that I currently occupy, I did not ask for it and I’m prepared to leave it at a short notice.

“It doesn’t mean anything. I became a born again Christian after I became a professor, a professor of the law of evidence, a professor of proof.

“But when the Lord Jesus Christ met me, He persuaded me by showing me clearly that there is such a thing as the evidence of things that are not seen.

“It is because of the evidence of things that are not seen, it is because you can make something out of nothing that I stand here today as Vice-President.

The Vice-President, while reacting to the issue raised by another speaker, Dr. Magdalene Dura, that the invasion of the state was an ethnic agenda, said no one would deliberately kill his own people.

In his remark, Governor Samuel Ortom appealed to the Federal Government to ensure that peace reign in his state.

The governor said that the killing of the two Catholic priests and 17 parishioners could have caused a religious crisis but for the prompt action of his administration.

He appreciated the Federal Government for deploying more troops in the state as well as releasing funds for control of flood.

Desperation casts a shadow on your Christianity, PDP tells VP

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party has described Osinbajo’s visit  to Benue State as an act of desperation and an attempt to “swindle votes” ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The party, which said this in a statement signed by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Emmanuel Agbo, in Abuja, on Wednesday, noted that Osinbajo’s alleged desperation to be Buhari’s running mate in 2019 “casts doubt publicly on his professed Christian faith.”

According to the party, the Vice-President’s visit to Abagana, Gbajimba and Anyii Internally Displaced Persons’ camps was political.

Agbo described it as “a political attempt at window dressing the already damaged image of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and an insult to the grieving people of Benue State.”

The PDP statement partly read, “Osinbajo did not visit the people of Benue when two priests and 17 parishioners were killed, neither does he agree that the herdsmen who killed 73 Christians in the state are terrorists.

The statement added, “Osinbajo’s promise during his visit to the IDP camps in the state that President Buhari has approved a total of N10bn for the rehabilitation of communities affected by violent attacks in parts of the country, further shows that the Federal Government is totally disconnected from the people.

The party which described the N10bn as “blood money” said the VP and the President should “eat” the money, arguing that the life of one Benue citizen was worth more than the money.

 “Let it be on record that the people of Benue will not be deceived by those who impoverished our people and watched us bury our sons and daughters while they gave nothing but excuses,” the statement added.