The unexplained friction perceived to be going on in the presidency, particularly between the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo and the Cabal, including Mamman Daura, uncle to the President, has raised a lot of questions, one of which is why is the Cabal ruthlessly against the Vice President?
In its publication on Sunday, November 10, 2019, The Guardian disclosed that the Cabal may be against the vice president over fear that his profile may be building up to a level which may result in his success as the next President of the Country.
Shockingly, the report, while relying on credible source, also disclosed that the Cabal despise Vice President Osinbajo over an alleged possession of tangible and incriminating information of some shady deals.
“what is happening in Aso Villa is an attempt by the President’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari to grab power, and tussle with the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who is seen as a trusted and reliable supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari, and whose influence is causing the Cabal sleepless nights especially, because of his rising profile ahead of 2023.”
“They see him as a real threat and hate the fact that the President trusts him,”
the source added.
Recall that the Herald, in its publication last week, reported that President Buhari had approved the sack of abut 35 aides from the office of the Vice President.
The Presidency had also issued a press statement to this effect, confirming the move to sack the aides, and also stating that the move was based on restructuring which was aimed at reducing the number of staff in the villa generally.
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However, sources who spoke to the Daily Nigerian News disclosed that the move was in fact, an attempt to reduce the influence of the Vice President.
Also, Contrary to the claim that Buhari had carried out moves to sack aides from the office of the vice president over an overloaded number of about 80 aides, sources have disclosed that the office of the vice president is in need of larger staff due to the weight of programmes that the office is implementing.
“Take the Social Investment Programmes (SIP) for instance, the budget is N500b, covering NPower job Programmes with half a million graduates involved, and the National Homegrown School Feeding Programme with about 10m pupils in 33 states, and others. What kind of staff strength do you need to run such Programmes with half a trillion Naira budget?
“What about supervising the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, with at least 10 power plants across the country?”
He also disclosed that the Vice President performs several functions statutorily and constitutionally which includes programmes like the National Economic Council (NEC) the only platform where States and the Federal Government interact on a whole lot of issues, NEMA, DMO, NIPSS, the border communities’ agency, as well as the National Boundary Commission amongst others.
“There is the talk of some re-organisation going on in the Presidency. For instance, all presidential staff working on the SIPs were transferred to the new ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
“But at the same time, there are also other presidential aides, who were moved to various ministries from the OVP on the approval of the President recently. It was not about disengagement.”
The source continued: “It was therefore intriguing that the same set of presidential aides so transferred in September, after their appointments were approved by the President are now to be disengaged altogether, without any kind of wrongdoings on their part.”