The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, went down memory lane during his condolence visit to the family of the late Justice Bolarinwa Babalakin in Gbogan, Osun State yesterday, recalling the vital efforts he made to get President Olusegun Obasanjo to change his mind when his government withheld the local government funds of Lagos State in 2003.
Osinbajo’s visit to the Babalakin family occurred after he had delivered a speech at the 45th convocation of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, also in Osun State, where he lamented the security situation in the country, especially the rise of terrorism and access to illegal weapons by non-state actors.
Recalling the face-off between the Lagos State Government and the Obasanjo administration over the withheld local government funds at a time Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu held sway as the governor of the state, Osinbajo said: “When I heard about the passing of our father, Babalakin, I called Adewale when he was abroad. I told him that this is not just a loss for him and the family but a great loss for all of us his friend, the legal profession and even the Yoruba race. Baba was so credible.
“I remember in 2003 when we had a problem with Obasanjo in Lagos, he held unto our local government funds and it was after the Supreme Court had given us judgment and he refused to hand over the money.
“We were going back and forth on it, so we were looking for somebody who would be respected by both Obasanjo and ourselves, who we knew would be considered credible by both sides, and everybody agreed that Justice Babalakin would be the right person. He advised that ultimately, we would resolve the issue with a kind of negotiation.
“He spoke very frankly to Obasanjo because later on, we got feedback on how he spoke to him. In the end, we all left having the feeling that we had someone fair, just, frank with all of us.”
He added that Justice Babalakin was respected by the bar and bench, noting that he was trusted and straightforward.
“This is a big loss for our nation especially at a time when we need credible people who can negotiate a lot of the problems and issues that are confronting us as a nation,” he said.
