By Oguwike Nwachuku
Osinbajo is a loyal Vice President. He is trusted, hardworking and a great partner to work with.
The above excerpt came from President Muhammadu Buhari in the wake of recent insinuations that he has dumped his deputy, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Buhari made the comment to reassure Osinbajo’s supporters, associates, kinsmen, and even foes, that all is well, despite the ill feelings many habour the erudite professor of law may have fallen out of favour with his principal.
In fact, an uncomplimentary assessment by Yinka Odumakin, the National Publicity Secretary of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural association, Afenifere over the current fate that had befallen Osinbajo, says it all about what many people think concerning the Buhari/Osinbajo current relationship.
Odumakin told a national newspaper shortly after Buhari relieved Osinbajo of his position as Chairman of the Economic Management Team (EMT) on Monday, September 16, that his “position has become totally irrelevant.”
Obviously, this is not the best of times for Osinbajo, one of Nigeria’s finest intellectuals.
Reason: The vice president appears to have been enmeshed in the murky waters of politics, perhaps beyond his imagination and comprehension, going by current developments around his sphere of influence in Aso Rock.
For instance, there was the Monday, September 16 dissolution of the Economic Management Team headed by Osinbajo.
The next day, Tuesday, September 17, Buhari dissolved the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP) constituted by Osinbajo with Mr. Okoi Obono-Obla as Chairman.
A statement by Femi Adesina, spokesperson to the President, said: “The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been directed to immediately take over all outstanding investigations and other activities of the SPIP.
“The panel was established in August 2017 by the then Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN to investigate specifically mandated cases of corruption, abuse of office and similar offenses by public officers.
“President Buhari thanks all members of the dissolved panel for their services.
“The President looks forward to receiving the final Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offenses Commission (ICPC) report on the ongoing investigations of the dissolved panel’s Chairman.”
Obono-Obla, a lawyer, had earlier been suspended over certificate scandal linked to him and when Buhari dissolved the SPIP headed by him, it was to pave the way for Obono-Obla to squarely face his investigators and prove his innocence.
Apart from the two portfolios Osinbajo was originally assigned to oversee there were others under his sphere of influence as vice president.
But today, he seems to have lost such powers, and that is where the politics of Osinbajo’s appointment as head of those offices and now, their dissolution, come into focus.
Critical minds have converged to put one and two together on what could have happened, but it seems Buhari is now fully prepared to assume the leadership of the country with a keen eye on what happens ahead of 2023 when hopefully, he will round off his second term.
I like to say Buhari will serve out his term in 2023 because many Nigerians already have little confidence in the ability of our judiciary at the highest apogee to re-do what the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) did few days ago when the five-man panel of Justices shocked everyone with their ruling that said Buhari was properly elected in February this year.
The optimism shown by presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar that justice would be done as he files 70-point grounds of appeal at the Supreme Court notwithstanding, all the signs that Buhari has been primed to stay in office till 2023 are there for any discerning mind to see.
Back on Osinbajo, Odumakin believes what Buhari did by dissolving most of the committees headed by the vice president is tantamount to passing a “clear vote of no confidence in a loud indictment.”
“His position has become totally redundant and irrelevant. Unfortunately, politicians don’t relinquish positions here except they are forced out,” Odumakin said.
Like Odumakin, there are those who think Osinbajo’s position has become totally redundant and irrelevant.
Constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has gone further to amplify the emerging issues around Osinbajo. Unlike Odumakin who reasons that Osinbajo’s punishment has started already, Ozekhome is predicting that his ugly ordeal is futuristic.
Ozekhome said: “Buhari will soon render Osinbajo and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) loyal to Bola Tinubu impotent in the coming days.”
Ozekhome told Daily Independent the battle for the heart and soul of the 2023 presidential election is on and that Buhari will make Osinbajo, Tinubu and other APC members, apparently loyal to the vice president and the national leader of the APC, feel accommodated in the party and ultimately discard them.
“One thing I want to assure Nigerians is that going by the trajectory of President Buhari’s persona, the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the Tinubu group will be rendered more and more impotent, unaccommodated and discarded.
“The battle for the heart and soul of 2023 has already earnestly begun. Read my lips,” Ozekhome said.
A recent report by an online platform, TheCable, actually set the stage for doubts as to the importance the Buhari administration currently attaches to Osinbajo as events that would culminate in who succeeds him in 2023 unfold.
What TheCable which other platforms found news worthy was the directive from Buhari that Osinbajo should, henceforth, seek approvals for agencies under his supervision.
The memo to that effect was copied the vice president, an indication it was a serious policy implementation correspondence.
The agencies Osinbajo superintends their activities as chairman of board include the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the National Boundary Commission (NBC), the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) and the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), a limited liability company owned by the federal, state and local governments.
Osinbajo as vice president is also chairman of National Economic Council (NEC), a constitutional body made up of state governors and key federal government officials, as well as the National Council on Privatisation (NCP).
Ordinarily, the directives that Osinbajo should seek Buhari’s approval for the agencies he supervises would have passed for any normal government bureaucracy, but the dissolution of the SPIP which he constituted and the EMT a day after left more questions than answers in the minds of political analysts.
Recently when Buhari inaugurated his ministers he hinted that all memos to him must be routed through his Chief of Staff (CoS), Abba Kyari and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha.
Matters between Buhari and the governors are to be presented through Kyari while the ones between the president and the ministers will be routed through Mustapha.
The directives did not jolt a few Nigerians who saw in it an attempt by the president to balkanize the power of Osinbajo and distance some of those hitherto having close interaction with the president.
Although it was rationalised by Buhari’s ardent supporters that most presidents all over the world do the same thing, it goes without saying that the foundation for a high-wire political calculation was being laid.
Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) waded in immediately to caution those who criticised Buhari for conferring too much powers on Kyari and Mustapha.
“The President, in his wisdom, is desirous of avoiding the staccato arrangement of the past that was disorderly and uncoordinated, even as it hampered the smooth running of government activities.
“President Buhari runs a more organised and streamlined system, aimed at ensuring a seamless operation of government activities, without unnecessary delays or hasty decision-making.
“We, therefore, implore Nigerians not to be taken in by the antics of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and a few disgruntled elements who never see anything good in an administration that is not only people-oriented but is focused at fighting corruption, improving the economy and combating the insurgency. The PDP should not equate its profligate era with the Buhari administration that is focused on rebuilding the country,” the BMO stated.
What BMO failed to explain to the public is why Buhari in his first term forgot that Kyari and Mustapha offices were not properly constituted to deal with official responsibilities.
Regardless, it appears from every indication, Laolu Akande, Osibanjo’s spokesman understands the enormity of what is playing out around his principal’s sphere of influence but is being deliberately economical with the truth going by the statement he issued on Tuesday, September 17, painting a picture of “all is well.”
Laolu tried to hide under due process in his statement to down play the critical issue of Osinbajo’s powers being deliberately whittled down by Buhari for reasons that are not far from the race for 2023.
Rather than address, for instance, the memo sent to his principal to seek presidential approval for the agencies under his oversight, Laolu went into unnecessary gyration of due process and cordial relationship that Osinbajo enjoys with Buhari for which the president sees him as a loyal Vice President, trusted, hardworking and a great partner to work with.
Laolu’s statement read: “Our attention has been drawn to a sensational report by TheCable which claims that His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, has directed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, to seek approvals for agencies under him.
“The report suggests, falsely, that agencies under the supervision of the Vice President do not normally comply with established rules where presidential approvals are required.
“This is obviously misleading and aims only to plant seeds of discord in the Presidency while attempting to create unnecessary national hysteria.
“The agencies in question are established by law and the Vice President has always insisted on due compliance with the enabling statutes and other established regulations.
“Depending on the particular scope of activity in question, agencies may require management approval only, at the level of the Director General or Chief Executive Officer. In this category falls the great majority of their day-to-day activities.
“However, other activities, or procurements, with value exceeding a certain threshold, require Board approval. These may get to the agency Board chaired by the Vice President. In a few cases where Presidential approval is required, the Director-General must seek such approval from the President, through the Vice President. These rules have always guided the activities of statutory agencies and the ones under the Vice President’s supervision have always been so guided.
“To claim that in the first term of the Buhari administration, agencies of government have not been complying with the provisions (of getting final approvals from the President) is false, and the attempt to suggest the Vice President’s complicity in such irregularities is simply mischievous and reprehensible.
“The effective and mutually respecting relationship between the President and the Vice President is well known to Nigerians and it is futile to insinuate otherwise.
“Even though the Vice President has a statutory role as Board Chairman of some government agencies under his office, with appropriate approval limits, which often do not include contract approvals; it is ludicrous to even insinuate that a Board Chairman approves contracts.
“Evidently, the Federal Executive Council, which oversees Federal Ministries and agencies of government, is chaired by the President, and it is in its purview to approve or ratify award of contracts within the prescribed threshold.
“The Vice President remains committed to the service of his fatherland and will continue to do so despite the purveyors of fake news. We urge media organizations, as gatekeepers to uphold truth, balance, fairness and objectivity in their reports.”
Granted that Laolu may be blind to the plot to undermine his principal politically because of 2023, is he still blind to insinuations that South West monarchs are making moves to wade into the plot against Osinbajo?
The Guardian reported that: “Some top traditional rulers in the South West are making moves to intervene in the crisis of confidence rocking the Presidency and alleged moves to impeach Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who was alleged of breaching due process in approving some contracts for agencies under his supervision.”
“We are already making moves to investigate the veracity of those allegations and see President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The most disturbing of this rumour is that impeachable offences against the Vice President are being compiled and we learnt will soon be sent to the National Assembly. “We are worried about this development and the alleged sudden frosty relationship between the President and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
“We cannot fold our hands and do nothing. This is politics and nothing is impossible,” The Guardian quoted a South West monarch it said craved anonymity to have said.
If the report was anything to go by, then Laolu had better wake up to the current reality to undermine his boss.
Let me explain.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo once went to the home of late Chuba Okadigbo as Senate president where he ate pounded yam and danced heartily with Okadigbo’s wife to everybody’s admiration in a party hosted by the Okadigbos.
Obasanjo’s presence at that party was to consummate plot to remove Okadigbo as senate president. And that was exactly what happened as Chuba was removed the next day.
Okadigbo had thought that Obasanjo was his friend and did not have the slightest inkling the former president was up to something – came to celebrate his ouster from the exalted office of senate president in his own home. That is politics. It is both sweet and bitter.
If you read the proceedings of the deliberations of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting on Thursday, September 19 and Osinbajo’s response as chairman of the council when asked the relationship between Buhari’s newly constituted Economic Advisory Council and NEC, you would further appreciate how our lovely Vice President has been left in the lurch.
Yes, Osinbjo has been left politically stranded since the EAC cannot report to the NEC he chairs directly without Buhari’s consent no matter what the issues are. Osinbajo said both NEC and EAC are advisory even though NEC is a creation of the constitution.
The question nobody, including Laolu is asking, is whether Buhari, today, has become better equipped to understand Nigeria’s and global economic dynamics than Osinbajo.
Again, does it mean all these years Buhari was playing hide and seek with his deputy, only to show his true colour now that 2023 stares all of us in the face?
Perhaps Ozekhome was right that Tinubu’s political family in Buhari’s government may be at risk. Osinbajo is a key arm of Tinubu’s political family and may have been perceived as a mole in Buhari’s team because of the hidden intentions of the president and his men regarding 2023.
We have heard of the query given to Babatunde Fowler, the boss of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), by Kyari over a “missed target”. Fowler is another of Tinubu’s many political scions working with Buhari.
There are insinuations of plan to replace Fowler with former Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, now considered a foe by Tinubu and his political sons and daughters. Events of the coming days will tell whether Ambode is actually being primed to succeed Fowler or not for reasons only the Kyaris and Mustaphas know best.
Methinks these and more unfolding political antagonism at the seat of power should rankle the Laolus of this world and others who still delude themselves with the “all is well” mantra being dished out from the inner chambers of Buhari’s political citadel.
We are all witnesses to how this government has led to the political fall of many who worked with Buhari as if they were under the spell of a certain miasma. The sympathy many habour for Osinbajo is that he looks a good man, and deserves to be treated as such.
Granted that there are Nigerians who think the Redeemed pastor has not lived up to their expectation in terms of issues that affect their faith and government, the point remains that Osinbajo has humbled himself to do what many a Buhari inner caucus members would not do with clear head, politics aside.
In carrying his cross as a professor working with someone whose academic credential has remained a subject of scrutiny and controversy, Osinbajo chose to slip to the nadir of being the conveyor belt for Tradermoni and other largesse the Buhari government dished out to the poorest of poor in the country in the build-up to the 2019 general election for the purpose of retaining power and laundering its image.
Today, power has been retained at Aso Rock and as Machiavelli would say, the “end justifies the means.” Whether Osinbajo will be part of the end of the government he sacrificed so much for is a different thing entirely.
This is because anyone who does not see Osinbajo’s political future in Buhari’s second term in harm’s way may be seeing double and needs deliverance.
Such doubting Thomases must ask why Osinbajo is suddenly accused of mismanaging billions of naira FIRS funds as acting president and why Tinubu is linked to his ordeal, and recently, why Osinbajo’s kinsman, Pastor Tunde Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly said he will succeed Buhari in 2023.
Buhari has been romancing with all the whys at meetings with his Aso Rock cabal and Tinubu, and still pretends to Osinbajo that all is well because politics is at work. Unfortunately, Laolu believes him.