President Muhammadu Buhari has sacked 35 aides working in the office of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
Buhari is presently on 14 days private visit to London. And he expected to be back to Nigeria November 17.
It was gathered that President Buhari though away, on Tuesday approved the sack of the 35 aides to Professor Osinbajo.
Buhari approves the sacked 35 aides to Professor Osinbajo
Senior Special Assistants, Special Assistants, Personal Assistants and Technical Assistants to Osinbajo were affected in the sack. And some also whose appointments were approved in August were not left out in the tsunami.
It was gathered that the affected aides were posted out to some line ministries relevant to their designation in October. And that the aides were expected to be issued with disengagement letters on Wednesday (today).
The source told Daily Nigerian that: “More than half of the aides are under the payroll of donor agencies and not the Federal Government. ”The cabal eased them out in order to whittle down the influence of the vice president.
Sacked Osinbajo’s aides not queried before sack
“None of them were queried or interdicted for any wrongdoing.
”It is not about cutting cost, because no aide was sacked in the president’s office nor the office of the First Lady. Recall that additional six aides in October were appointed to serve in the First Lady’s office.
”They were just sacked to reduce the influence of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.”
The development comes amid speculations of a frosty relationship between Buhari and Osinbajo since the beginning of the second term.
Areas where Osinbajo’s power were reduced
Recall that the president had previously asked Osinbajo to seek presidential approvals for agencies under his supervision. And also to the newly created Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development.
The SIPs include the famous TraderMoni, the Home-grown School Feeding Programme, Government Economic Empowerment Programme (N-Power), among others.
The president also replaced Osinbajo-led Economic Management Team with the Economic Advisory Council that will directly report to his office.
According to reports, even the controversial RUGA project has also been taken from Osinbajo’s control after the recommendation of the president’s Chief of Staff Abba Kyari.
