In Attendance: His Excellency, the Vice-President, Nigeria, Professor ‘Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON. His Excellency, the Governor of Adamawa State, Senator Bindo Jibrilla, Ade Ipaye, SAN, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Laolu Akande, Snr Special Assistant- Media & Publicity to the Vice President, Ade Omole, APC UK Chieftain, Ifeoluwa Sarumi, Youth Leader, Onome Kesena, Member, Austin J Otah, Esq, Legal Adviser.

1. Ade Ipaye, SAN introduced the Group and informed the VP that the Diaspora Group had called on him to pay a courtesy call and invited Ade Omole, Leader of the Group, to introduce himself and purpose of the meeting.

2. Ade Omole introduced himself as an APC UK Chieftain and Ife Sarumi as the Youth Leader; Onome Kesena, an avid APC supporter and long term member and social media support, and he introduced Austin J Otah, legal adviser and his ‘junior’ at Igbobi College. Although Austin protested it was just by one year, the VP, also an ICOBA Old Boy noted that ‘once a junior, always a junior’.

3. Ade Omole having introduced his Delegation informed the VP that he had been in Nigeria last month to attend the APC Convention after which he paid a courtesy call to the President, Muhammadu Buhari and was back in the Country this time to attend the Diaspora Day Convention representing the progressives in the UK and felt it was only proper to pay a courtesy call on the Vice President. He thanked the Vice President for seeing the Group at such short notice.

4. Ade Omole said he was glad that for the opportunity as he wanted to personally thank the VP for his sterling efforts which are now being felt even in the UK. He said the Government’s efforts were being felt home and abroad, despite the trying and challenging circumstances they face. He was aware of the efforts of the VP in helping to setup up various people-oriented programmes such as the social investment programmes such as NPower amongst others. He remarked that although we were not yet at the Promised Land, we were certainly out of Egypt. He knows that it is difficult to lay a good foundation but glad that the trajectory was changing positively upwards.

5. Ade Omole encouraged the VP to keep up the good work, which is deeply appreciated by Nigerians across the World and this is why his Team are privileged to come and pay homage to a great and notable Nigerian making a difference and a change to the topography of Nigeria. And this in spite of well connected and financially equipped opponents trying to change the narrative of the Country. To this end what he is doing in the UK with his team is to continue to counter the media blitz by making APC visible internationally. He said that Progressives in the UK have held three events at the House of Parliament and would continue doing that until the 2019 Elections. Again he expressed his thanks and urged the VP not to relent and to please keep it up. He is aware that there would be difficult times and more challenges but Nigerians are all praying for the VP.

6. Ife said that she has followed the VP’s trajectory even on social media which she diligently follows and happy for his real presence on it and the way he connects with young people. She stated that she was honoured to be meeting with him.

7. Onome agreed with earlier speakers and acknowledged that this Government has strengthened the ‘Nigerian Brand’ and thanked him for it.

8. Austin thanked the VP for seeing the Team and expressed words of solidarity and prayers for God to continue to infuse him with wisdom and guidance and direction. He pointed out that he had seen him with the ICOBA group in October 2016.

9. Sen. Bindo Jibrilla said that he was a Senator in the 7th Senate before becoming Governor, Adamawa State. Says the VP is a father to him. Whilst he was in the Senate, he was the Vice-Chairman of the powerful Senate Committee on Defence and Army. He said this Government has performed marvelously on Security. He said he is mindful that there are elements of politicking concerning the media blitz on security and says that he is called a ‘small pastor’ to VP. He said that he would echo Ife’s thoughts – and says the VP’s personality is sterling and the hope of the APC Governors is in him! He is very familiar with the UK and would liaise with Ade Omole on setting up events to promote APC activities in the UK and would very much keep in touch. He said also that he would bring several APC Governors as well such as those of Niger, Plateau, Kaduna amongst others.

10. Ade Omole agreed with Gov. Jibrilla on the issue of politicizing the security issue which was not as the media was painting. He said his team would keep pushing a counter narrative to correct the erroneous reportage given in the media. He said the group's twitter handle and Facebook page have been very busy – even though they had to face a lot of abuse. To him, the UK is actually seen as the ‘37th’ State of Nigeria and its importance to Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. He reiterated that although it was not yet ‘el dorado’ we are no longer at the cliff-edge. To go up we have to go down first. To build a tall skyscraper, you had to dig all the way down.

11. The VP said he wished he had been able to join partisan politics much sooner than he has now. He could not overemphasise the importance of being involved right now. He emphasized that one of the biggest problems was corruption and that Nigeria needs to free herself from its shackles. In his view PDP sees Nigeria as one that must be run as a rent-state. Whilst APC made corruption a central issue, PDP had no response or offered a point of view. Corruption is systemic in Nigeria and is huge. It has become a way of life! He said it is a blight that has affected the three arms of Government. He said on the onslaught on corruption it had even affected the Judiciary but it is only now that the Government has been able to tackle the situation therein.

12. The VP added – to deal with corruption you are going against the tide. What this Government has achieved is stopping GRAND CORRUPTION! He showed a report on the OPEC Annual Report on Nigeria’s Oil Revenues between 1990-2017. It showed that the last Government between 2010-2014 received the highest amount in the shortest period being $381.9Bn; yet no capital projects commenced were finished between this period. The Railway project commenced in 2005 by Nasir El-Rufai was supposed to have been finished in 2012 and then later in 2014 before the Commonwealth Games but nothing happened even though huge funds were earmarked for it! The period 2015-2017 shows that the Country had earned the least amount for oil being only $93.5Bn yet the Government was completing projects that had been left in abeyance by the previous Government despite earning about 30% of what the previous Government received. Had it not been for the frugality of this Government, he said the economy would have totally collapsed.

13. Over N1.3Trillion in capital projects alone despite the difficulties and finished previously abandoned projects such as the Railways which were abandoned for four years. He is glad that President Buhari is in Government. His Presence alone is saving Nigeria daily over 60% in revenue! He has a reputation of being non-corrupt and has maintained it up till date. The only way to save Nigeria from corruption is to first have a President that is not corrupt. He said the Power situation in Nigeria has even effectively improved despite all the challenges as well. On Fuel, he said despite the increase in petrol the Government still has to subsidise fuel prices due to the poverty in the Country and hardship suffered by the common man. Gov. Jibrilla also noted that in his State he had been able to complete a remarkable number of road projects on a budget that was significantly less than that of the previous Governor.

14. The narrative on Security in the Country is also false. At first the President was accused of supporting Boko Haram, until he was also attacked and almost killed by a suicide bomber in the months leading to the 2015 elections. ON the Fulani Herdsmen he noted with regret that they have a history of violence which has been properly documented since 2001. Between 2001 – 2014, the violence had been regular with the worst being in 2014 when over 1,000 people were killed! This was when Governor Jang was in Power. There had been a peaceful hiatus for three years, until this recent incident in which 200 people were killed. He said all these killings were done at a time when we had mainly Christian Presidents. This situation is being heightened now because the President is Muslim and Fulani. It is a false picture being created by enemies of Nigeria to mislead the Public. ‘It is all about perception’, he said.

15. He reminded the Team of the time when during President Obasanjo’s Tenure, 12 Muslim States declared themselves to be ‘Sharia’ States. Alh. Kwankwaso was the second State Governor to declare Sharia at the time. The President did nothing because he felt he could not move against 12 States. He mused that if that had been during President Buhari’s Tenure, there would have been a hue and cry about a Muslim Conspiracy! This is being politicised obviously with the Elections next year in mind. He said although he decried the killings and lamented the loss of even a single soul, not much is mentioned of the even more heinous killings in Zamfara State currently. He did not rule out the effect of climate change and desertification being significant factors in this fight for land grabbing. It is an urgent issue that is not religious and should not be politicised as it is being done by desperate people for purposes of power grabbing.

16. He reminded Gov. Jibrilla of the visit he made to Adamawa State over such crises in Bidong when he visited the State with the Governor. He went into the heart of the crisis to meet the leaders there. He asked them why they were suggesting that it was religious when they knew and they agreed that this was not a recent crisis but had been ongoing for decades. They acknowledged that most of these Fulani herdsmen were actually pagans! He said the Government was working to bring an end to this crisis but it certainly was not a religious matter. *Understanding of the issues is key. The battle ahead is a battle for the soul of our Nation and it should not be put in the hands of rent seekers and those who had robbed Nigeria blind! We are too quick to forget. One of the things that had brought Nigeria to her economic knees was the bastardisation of our resources and grand corruption on unprecedented scale. We cannot afford to go back to that.

17. On the Npower program, he said that over 500,000 Nigerians had just joined the NPower Program – the largest program of its type in Africa.

18. He urged Mr Omole and his Delegation to remain steadfast and diligent and that he would liaise with him via his Office to keep him updated with information to enable him respond to issues more informatively backed up by real facts and direct information.

Group pictures were later taken with Mr Vice-President, the Governor of Adamawa State, Ade Ipaye SAN and other attendees at the Courtesy Call meeting.