Group passes vote of confidence on President Buhari

A vote of confidence has been passed on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari for repositioning the country across global best practices.


The Global Centre for Conscious Living Against Corruption, a coalition of 122 anti-corruption Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria, made the declaration on  President Buhari and Kyari “for repositioning the nation and piloting the affairs of government synonymous with Global Best Practice.”

At a press briefing on Monday in Abuja, the Director General, Global Centre for Conscious Living Against Corruption, Dr. Nwambu Gabriel, said it is imperative to remind those calling for the immediate sack or resignation of the chief of staff to President, Mr. Abba Kyari, that his office has no financial budget, no vote, and therefore, “that any power or authorities he enjoys as a chief of staff to Mr. President is exercised as it deems fit by Mr. President.”

The group said “the allegations that the Chief of staff is involved in the withdrawals of large sums of money is baseless, it is unfounded and merely concocted to malign, Mr. Abba Kyari, mutilate his hard earned integrity, subject him to ridicule and portray him in bad light before his boss, Nigerians and the International Community.”

“We, the Coalition of 122 members of GCCLAC and indeed all well-meaning Nigerians wish to remind the few individuals involved in this ill- fated demonstration and their sponsors that the chief of staff to President Buhari , Abba Kyari,  is a coordinator of all the persons working for Mr. President, like the Honourable Ministers, all the staffs in the Villa and all political appointees (SAs, SSAs, etc). So, the job of Mr. Abba Kyari essentially is that of supervision and coordination,” Dr. Gabriel said.

The full text of the statement reads thus:

“The Global Centre for Conscious Living Against Corruption (GCCLAC) is a coalition of 122 Non-Governmental, Non Partisan Civil Society Organizations, registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) with an aim of reducing corruption to the barest minimum via public enlightenment, advocacy and civic public education thereby creating a New Nigeria devoid of corruption and corrupt practices.

“GCCLAC also conducts verification and fact finding investigations on issues bothering on corruption both in Nigeria and abroad.

“In a review on the state of the Nation, the GCCLAC took an empirical look on the issues raised by an obviously orchestrated and sponsored demonstration against the chief of staff to President Muhammdu Buhari, Mr. Abba Kyari, who were asking for his immediate sack or resignation.

“We, the Coalition of 122 members of GCCLAC and indeed all well-meaning Nigerians, wish to remind the few individuals involved in this ill- fated demonstration and their sponsors that the chief of staff to President Buhari, Abba Kyari is a coordinator of all the persons working for Mr. President, like the Honourable Ministers, all the staffs in the Villa, and all political appointees (SAs, SSAs, etc). So, the job of Mr. Abba Kyari essentially is that of supervision and coordination.

“Again, the Chief of staff to PMB is not a signatory to any government account. Therefore, he cannot make withdrawal of funds of any Government account whatsoever.

“It is imperative therefore to remind the sponsors of this dastardly act that the office of Abba Kyari has no financial budget, he has no vote, therefore any power or authorities he enjoys as a chief of staff to Mr. President is exercised as it deems fit by Mr. President, so the allegations that the Chief of staff is involved in the withdrawals of large sums of money is baseless, it is unfounded and merely concocted to malign, Mr. Abba Kyari, mutilate his hard earned integrity, subject him to ridicule and portray him in bad light before his boss, Nigerians and the International Community.

“The essence of these stage-managed drama is to cause disaffection between Mr. President and Abba Kyari, hence, the choice of corruption as a potent means of possibly cajoling Mr. President to relieve the Chief of staff of his appointment, preparatory for the 2019 General elections, knowing the present administration’s hard stand against corruption.

“Again, Abba Kyari is a highly disciplined technocrat of impeccable repute having served for several years in the banking industry. In our opinion, our dear nation is lucky to have such seasoned technocrat with high degree of varying wealth of exposure and knowledge in the team of PMB.

“In another development, President Mohammadu Buhari has repositioned the economy of Nigeria and put it in a proper perspective of economic recovery from the several years of corruption, infrastructural decay and economic quagmire. Although, we are aware of the current challenges of government, hence acknowledge that it is not yet uhuru, but surely, Nigerians are hopeful and believe very strongly that the nation is in good hands in a sure road to economic recovery.

“However, the research conducted by the GCCLAC on corruption index in Nigeria is at variance with the report released by Transparency International on the corruption index in Nigeria in 2016 and 2017. While the entire world including the U.S government has commended PMB on the war against corruption and the African Union has affirmed PMB as the leader of anti corruption war in Africa, it therefore calls for question on the ingenuity or otherwise of a nongovernmental organization as Transparency International.

“From the afore mentioned, the Global Centre for Conscious Living Against Corruption (GCCLAC), by this medium, hereby unanimously declare and pass a “VOTE OF CONFIDENCE” on the Chief of Staff to Mr. President, Abba Kyari and the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, President Mohammadu Buhari for repositioning the nation and staring the affairs of government synonymous with Global Best Practice.

“We believe and trust the administration of President Buhari, we are confident that the nation is in good hands and surely, we know he would take Nigeria to the Promised Land.

“Finally, we wish to remind the sponsors of the spurious demonstration against the chief of staff to Mr. President that the essence of democracy is that it allows you to ventilate your anger provided it is within the ambits of the law but that the GCCLAC would not hesitate to approach a court of competent jurisdiction to seek redress on those who persistently prefer to peddle rumours, baseless and unfounded stories with the ultimate aim of bringing the hard earned reputation of a seasoned technocrat as Abba Kyari to disrepute and President Mohammadu Buhari.

“Finally, we wish to advice PMB to avoid distractions and focus on quality service delivery in line with the yearnings and aspirations of the masses of the Nigerian nation.”