Osinbajo embattled! …as cabal bares its fangs!

By AYOOLA OLAOLUWA

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, once a ‘poster boy’ of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration, is currently caught in the middle of a political power game, which is threatening his political future.
Buhari, who had tried three times in the past to become Nigeria’s president and failed, largely because of his poor public image of being a dictator, religious fundamentalist and Northern irredentist, had tapped Osinbajo, a popular Pentecostal pastor from the largely Christian South of the country as his running mate in the 2015 presidential election.

The chances of the president, whose power base lies with the street of northern Nigeria, popularly known as the talakawas, was boosted by his running mate, Osinbajo, who helped him to sweep into power on a wave of goodwill from his Christian dominated South. In the 2019 presidential election, Buhari’s appeal in the South was also boosted by the retention of Osinbajo as his running mate.

Though, Osinbajo have been able to make significant contributions to the modest achievements of the Buhari government, he has not been able to perform optimally because of the obvious parochialism displayed by the president’s inner circle. Some political analysts who spoke with Business Hallmark over the weekend mentioned Osinbajo, apart from the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the major pillar of Buhari’s Presidency.

“He filled the gaping holes in a government that promised so much but delivered too little”, said a chieftain of the ruling APC, who would like to be identified.

However, just five years after his emergence as vice president, Osinbajo is an embattled leader whose power and popularity have plummeted.

The Presidency had announced several changes which analysts believe are going to undermine the vice president.
Like a carefully orchestrated coup, members of the cabal, who are holding sway in the Presidency, did not as much hint at such moves. But like a well scripted plot, a barrage of attacks was launched against the vice president, who is daily being stripped of his powers.

On Monday, September 16, the Presidency announced the scrapping of the Economic Management Team (EMT) chaired by Osinbajo and its replacement with the Economic Advisory Council (EAC), to be chaired by an economist, Prof. Doyin Salami, and reporting directly to the president. Other members of the new body are Dr. Mohammed Sagagi (Vice-Chairman), Prof. Ode Ojowu, Dr Shehu Yahaya, Dr Iyabo Masha, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, Mr. Bismark Rewane, and Dr Mohammed Adaya Salisu (Secretary).

According to the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the advisory council will be reporting directly to the president.
While the controversy over the announcement to the effect that the vice present had been stripped of his powers to manage the economy was still raging, a memo from President Buhari directing the Vice President to henceforth seek presidential approvals in the running of the agencies under his supervision was leaked to the media.

The agencies being supervised by the Vice President are the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the National Boundary Commission (NBC), the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) and the Social Investment Programmes (SIP).

It was gathered that the SIP may now operate under the newly created Ministry of Social Development, Humanitarian Affairs & Disaster Management.

BH also gathered that some top aides of the vice president have been relocated from the Presidential Villa to some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

However, a top official in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) who did not want his identity disclosed, denied that the movements were targeted at Osinbajo.
According to him, the Federal Government was only realigning some MDAs due to the scarce resources available to it. He was however unable to explain why only MDAs under the supervision of the president were targeted.

Prior to this latest onslaught, the president had severally undermined his deputy’s standing in his home state of Ogun by allowing his ally, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, to control affairs in the state.

Amosun’s ally and former commissioner, Kemi Adeosun, it would be recalled, was named the finance minister instead of Osinbajo’s nominee. After securing another term in 2019, Amosun’s childhood friend and Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure during his eight-year term, Olamilekan Adegbite, was appointed the Minister of Mine and Steel Development by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Amosun also succeeded in pushing his ally, Adeleke Adewolu, to be appointed as the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Engagement, at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Adewolu had contested but lost the House of Representatives seat in Ifo/Ewekoro Federal Constituency on the platform of APM, a party supported by Amosun.

In addition, Amosun also influenced Buhari to appoint his former Commissioner for Agric and Urban and Physical Planning, Mrs. Ronke Sokefun, as the chairman of the Governing Board of the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation. Not done, Amosun influenced the appointment of the serving Postmaster-General/ Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Postal Services, Bisi Adegbuyi.

His fall from grace

Sources disclosed that Osinbajo’s fall from grace did not happen overnight. They cited several decisions he took as acting president while Buhari was outside the country on medical leave as some of his sins.

The vice-president was praised for the decisive – and dramatic – actions he took while standing in for Buhari, albeit to the chagrin of the supporters of the ailing president. One of his sins, according to BH findings, was his sacking on August 7, 2018, of the controversial former head of the Department of State Security (DSS), Lawal Daura, a close ally of the president, whose men had invaded the National Assembly (NASS) in hoods.

Defending the sack, Osinbajo had said the siege on parliament was a violation of all accepted notions of law and order. This singular decision, though won him public accolades and admiration, put him on a warpath with the president’s inner circle.

Osinbajo subsequently appointed Matthew Seiyefa as his replacement, but Seiyefa was sacked by Buhari the same September immediately he resumed from his medical leave. Buhari, it would be recalled, had failed to take action against Daura’s many misdeeds.

Also, Osinbajo crossed the red line over his role in the emergence of Justice Walter Onnoghen as the substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN). Buhari had on November 10, 2016 sworn in Onnoghen in acting capacity despite the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC), which stated that he should be appointed as CJN, being the most senior justice of the Supreme Court.

The president, despite public outcry, did not forward Onnoghen’s name to the Senate for consideration before travelling out of the country. It was Osinbajo, while acting as president that forwarded Onnoghen’s name to the Senate on February 7, 2017 and swore him in on March 7, 2017.

This affront, it was learnt, was never forgiven. While Onnoghen was subsequently booted out of office after going through alleged corruption charges, Osinbajo’s punishment was fixed for a later date.

Osinbajo also got into the black books of the ‘president’s men’ for thwarting all efforts to sack the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu.
It would be recalled that the DSS and Ministry of Justice, manned by close associates of the president, had on two occasions sent damaging reports against Magu to the Senate which used the reports as excuse to stop his confirmation.

“If not for Osinbajo and others, Magu would have been history by now. Efforts were made to sack him, but Osinbajo stood his ground. Magu ran into trouble for probing and prosecuting some people close to the cabal, including Air Commodore Mohammed Umar, a member of the panel investigating the mismanagement of public funds meant for the war against Boko Haram and close ally of the president; former Chairman of the Presidential Task team on Pension Matters, Abdulrasheed Main, and former SGF, Babachir Lawal, among others.

“The cabal is also not happy with the shielding of the presidential panel on recovery of public assets from harassments by Osinbajo. Before his sack, 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.

“We are not surprised as we saw it coming. You can see that there is a total war against the vice president and his supposed men in order to render him ineffective. Apart from being vindictive, they are also plotting to undermine all perceived adversaries before the 2023 presidential elections”, declared a close aide to the EFCC boss.

Osinbajo also ran into trouble with the way he handled the controversial RUGA scheme to provide land for Fulani herdsmen. The vice president, it would be recalled, had denied reports that he was helping the establishment of Ruga settlements across the country as claimed by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN).

Osinbajo had said that contrary to claims, the establishment of Ruga settlements was not being supervised by the Office of the Vice President.

“The Ruga initiative is different from the National Livestock Transformation Plan approved by State governors under the auspices of the National Economic Council (NEC) chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo”, he had said.

The president, it was learnt, had hoped that Osinbajo would help sell the RUGA progarmme, but was shocked when he publicly renounced it.

An angry MACBAN member had told our correspondent earlier in the year that Osinbajo’s open rejection of the RUGA caused more harm to the scheme than good.

“He killed the project by denouncing it, yet, he was aware of it. By openly denouncing Ruga, the Christian South raised hell which even scared the president. He chickened out because of the pressure from his people. He is a traitor. He can no longer be trusted”, he had said.

The vice president’s pronouncements on the Ruga scheme angered the cabal in the presidency who made up their minds never to trust him.
BH gathered that while the vice president is been persecuted for his ‘sins’, his closeness and loyalty to his mentor, former Lagos governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has also compounded his troubles. It was learnt at the weekend that there is an all out war to stop Tinubu from getting the ticket of the APC in 2013. One of the plots to stop his ambition is to move against his close allies in and out of government.
“We are aware of the move to dismantle Tinubu’s structures. It would have come earlier if not for the fear of losing the support of the South West in the last election. Tinubu is their headache. He is the only one that can stop them and they are aware of that.
“Just as Tinubu is having helpless nights over their assaults, Buhari and his men are also having sleepless nights over Tinubu’s influence. They knew quite well that they can’t take him (Tinubu) on headlong. It will be a suicide on their part.
“What they are doing now is to try cutting his wings by undermining his allies. We expect that they will soon move against Fowler (FIRS chairman). They don’t have an option than to extend his tenure which will expire soon for fear of the backlash, but we heard that they plan to remove him shortly after and put one of their own”, said the South West APC chieftain.
While forces in the presidency close to Buhari are hell-bent on stripping the vice president of his powers, Osinbajo has seen his popularity within his Southern Nigeria stronghold plummet in recent months.

Southerners, particularly from Osinbajo’s Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), who had fanatically believed in his capacity to bring change, largely because he is one of them and identified with him, are today disappointed.

For many of them, most of whom are unhappy with the Buhari administration; while the promised change has failed to materialize, Osinbajo had also betrayed their trust in him by always coming out to side with the government against them.