The Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, has said that from the look of things, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo’s office has been rendered useless, impotent and irrelevant.
The Spokesman for Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said this on Wednesday in an interview with the Punch while reacting to the trimming of Mr. Osinbajo`s powers and relevance by the presidency.
Recall that the Economic Management Team led by Osinbajo was suddenly dissolved on Monday and replaced with an advisory council that would report directly to President Muhammadu Buhari.
It was gathered that some of the agencies like NEMA, would rather deal directly with the President than Osinbajo.
These apart, some of Osinbajo’s aides had been transferred out of the Presidential Villa and seconded to some Ministries Departments and Agencies.
The Presidency, it was also reported, is planning stripping the Vice-President of his brainchild known as the Social Investment Programme which comprises the Trader Moni initiative, N-Power, school feeding programme and others.
The welfare programme is expected to be placed under the newly created Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development headed by Sadiya Umar.
Odumakin however, said it would be too early to speculate if Osinbajo’s ordeal was caused by any misdemeanour on his part or if it was based on permutations ahead of the general election in 2023.
He said, “We are watching as events unfold. We are studying the situation but we must also not muddle up issues. For now we will not jump into any premature conclusion that this is about 2023 alone. We will need to know if we will need more information to know whether it is political or whether there was abuse of office or process.
“But the barrage of the last 48 hours shows that there is something wrong. We will wait to have all the facts because we don’t want to say a Yoruba man is being attacked.
“They may have had a justifiable reason to do so. But we are taking note of every development and at the appropriate time, we will make our position known. But clearly, what has happened is that the VP’s office has been rendered impotent, useless and irrelevant.”
It is believed that Osinbajo is being targeted by the so-called cabal in the presidency over actions he took as acting President when Buhari was sick.
According to the Punch, a source in the Presidential Villa said members of the cabal in the Presidency are bitter about the roles played by the Vice-President, when he stood in for Buhari, when the latter went on medical leave.
The source cited the emergence of Walter Onnoghen as the substantive Chief Justice of the Federation and the removal of Lawal Daura as the Director-General of the Department of State Services on August 7, 2018 as two of their grievances against Osinbajo.
The source, who confided in the newspaper, attributed Osinbajo’s tribulations to the roles he played in Onnoghen’s issue and Daura’s removal.
The source said, “The VP underestimated the level of vindictiveness some of these people have towards him.
“They accused Osinbajo of sidelining them when he took critical decisions during Buhari’s medical leave. If you remember, there was a lot of drama surrounding the confirmation hearing of (Walter) Onoghen and the removal of Daura.
“They were also not happy about the issue of the presidential panel on recovery of public assets. Obono-Obla developed a life of his own in handling the assignment given to him. They thought the VP was supposed to have checked him.”
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