This may not be the best of time for the nation’s number two citizen, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, as he again is at the receiving end of the power show at the Aso Rock.
This time around, President Muhammadu Buhari, who is on a private visit in the United Kingdom has approved the dismissal of a total of 35 aides from the office of the Vice President.
The sack is sequel to the visit of the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari to the UK, where the president had also signed the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract (PSC) Amendment Bill into Law.
The 35 aides who were issued with official sack letters were the Vice-President’s Senior Special Assistants, Special Assistants, Personal Assistants and Technical Assistants.
Before now, the aides were denied access to their offices at the Villa and were redeployed to various ministries to what can be considered a careful move geared to weaken the influence of Osinbajo.
Read Also Buhari’s Trips: When A President Governs From The Air
A source however, explained that the effect was not about cutting cost because more than half of the aides are under the payroll of donor agencies whereas , no aide was sacked neither at the president’s office nor office of the First Lady where an additional six aides were even appointed.
“None of them were queried or interdicted for any wrongdoing. They were just sacked to reduce the VP’s influence,” he said.
The turn out of events that has occurred in the past months suggest that the cordial relationship between the president and the vice president is fast going cold.
RECOUNT OF PAST EVENTS
The Osinbajo ordeal may have started brewing in 2017, when the presidency became quite reluctant to transmit a letter to the 8th senate which however, was received after 48 hour he had proceeded to the said leave. The letter which caused an uproar when it was read on the floor was assumed to be ambiguous as it stated, “While I am away, the Vice President will coordinate the activities of the government.”
The letter was said not to be within the confines of the constitution which does not have anything like ‘coordinating president’ or ‘coordinating vice president’, instead of the vice-president or acting- president designate.
Read Also Charly Boy Hints Sowore Is Masterminding His Incarceration
Abba Kyari who is the president’s chief of staff on Monday flew into the UK for Buhari to assent on a new bill on offshore oil fields which sparked reaction among Nigerians who said it was undermining the office of the vice-president.
According a political analyst, Sola Olubanjo,“It was a clear case of insubordination and it also showed that the vice-president does not have the president’s ears. But, the seat of power is a jungle here and those in power are only looking to perpetuate themselves in office even under very humiliating circumstances.”
Another encounter was when president Buhari dissolved the Economic Management Team headed by the vice-president, as well as transferring some agencies headed by Osinbajo to other officials. Buhari has re-assigned most of VP’s portfolios, such as Special Intervention Programmes (SIPs), the umbrella housing Trader Moni, N-power amongst others, to the newly created ministry of humanitarian affairs ,disaster management and social development under the Sadiya Umar Farouq as the minister.
Another report by Premium Times said that Osinbajo’s position is being undermined and he is faced with various kinds of insubordination by the president’s senior aides and allies with the most encounter when the the vice-president sought an approval for funds to continue his responsibility in resolving the deadly farmers-herdsmen conflict under the project-National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP).
Osinbajo mentioned that N35Billion was budgeted for NLTP out of which 12billion had already been released for construction of designated grazing routes and requested that the remaining 22Billion should be released for the long term implementation of the project for the compensation of the people displaced by the violence in Benue, Plateau and other states. However, Abba kyari termed it as a duplication of efforts since the president had approved N12 billion for intervention for the Ruga Model through the National Food Security Council (NFSC).
Kyari said, “To avoid duplication of efforts, we respectfully recommend (with emphasis) that Mr President retains oversight of the farmer/herder issues under the NFSC,”
Later ,he proposed the establishment of a National Livestock and Fisheries Commission that would be responsible for “formulating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating all projects relating to ranching, fisheries and other related issues.”
WHAT COULD BE OSINBAJO’S SINS?
Osinbajo has been said to have stepped on the toes of some very important persons in the corridor of power when he made decisions while he was the acting president such as the dismissal of the former Director-General of the State Security Service, SSS, Lawal Daura.
Also, when the VP transmitted a letter to the Senate in February 2017, requesting the confirmation of the then acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Walter Samuel Onnoghen .
As well as the suspension of the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, Prof Usman Yusuf by the former health minister ,Isaac Adewole which was approved by the Acting -President , Yemi Osinbajo.
