Babachir Lawal, former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), says the late former President Muhammadu Buhari considered it “highly immoral and distasteful” for Yemi Osinbajo, his former vice-president, to contest against Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.
Speaking in an interview with Symfoni TV published on
YouTube on Thursday, Lawal said Buhari would have found it difficult to support
Osinbajo against Tinubu because of his longstanding relationship with the
former governor of Lagos.
Lawal said Buhari’s position was influenced by his loyalty
to Tinubu, whom he described as the person who recommended Buhari for the
presidency and later sought to succeed him.
“I’m very close to Buhari; I know him very well. He’s
somebody that believes in royalty. He’s somebody that does issues from the
point of view of high morality,” the former SGF said of the late former
president.
According to Lawal, Buhari would have considered it
inappropriate for Osinbajo to challenge Tinubu for the presidency, regardless
of his assessment of the former vice-president’s potential as a president.
“Buhari would find it highly immoral for Osinbajo to contest
the same position with Bola Tinubu,” he said.
“In his type of character, he will find it distasteful
because he knew the relationship before; he is the man who recommended him for
president, and Bola wants it.”
Lawal added that Buhari would have found Osinbajo’s decision
distasteful “even if he believes that Osinbajo will be a better president or
whatever”.
Osinbajo, who served as acting president during Buhari’s
medical trips abroad, took some decisions while in charge of the presidency,
including the dismissal of Lawal Daura, then director-general of the Department
of State Services (DSS), in August 2018.
The dismissal came after DSS operatives laid siege to the
national assembly complex in Abuja, preventing lawmakers and other persons from
accessing the legislative chambers.
Daura hails from Daura in Katsina state, Buhari’s hometown.
‘BUHARI WAS UNHAPPY WITH OSINBAJO’S APPOINTMENTS’
Lawal’s account of Buhari’s reservations about Osinbajo also
centred on what he described as the former vice-president’s preference for
appointing members of his church.
The former SGF said Buhari was aware that many of the people
Osinbajo sought to appoint to his office were members of his church.
Osinbajo, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), is also a
pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).
Lawal recalled an incident in which a memo seeking approval
for Osinbajo’s take-off staff allegedly remained unapproved for about three
months because it had not been forwarded to Buhari.
According to Lawal, the memo contained about 28 names, most
of whom Buhari believed were Yoruba and members of Osinbajo’s church.
He said the memo was being discussed within the presidential
villa, while the late Abba Kyari, then chief of staff to the president, had
allegedly refused to forward it to Buhari.
Lawal said he eventually obtained a photocopy of the memo
and took it directly to the president himself.
“I said, ‘Oga, see the date my Oga sent a memo. You have not
approved. What is the problem?’” Lawal recalled.
He said Buhari read the document and used a green biro to
tick almost all the names in the list.
“Out of 28, I think he ticked 26 with the green biro,” Lawal
said, adding that Buhari stated: ‘BD, these are all Yorubas.’”
Lawal said he explained to Buhari that Osinbajo was new to
the position and asked the former president to approve the appointments,
promising to speak with the vice-president about the concerns.
“I said, ‘Oga, this is his first memo. I will talk to him.
You know, he’s just from Lagos,’” Lawal said.
The former SGF said Buhari approved the memo, after which he
took it to the chief of staff and informed him that the president had
authorised the appointments.
Lawal said the episode was one of several instances in which
Buhari took note of Osinbajo’s appointments.
‘OSINBAJO’S CHURCH APPOINTMENTS RAISED CONCERNS’
The former SGF alleged that Buhari was particularly
concerned about appointments involving people associated with Osinbajo’s
church.
He recalled that the head of the church where Osinbajo had
served as pastor received an appointment after Osinbajo became vice-president.
According to him, the person’s successor and the individual
who subsequently took over the position also received appointments.
Lawal alleged that some appointees had limited experience
for the positions they received.
He cited a person appointed to a position at the Nigeria
Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) who, he said, had previously been a level
12 officer at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) before receiving an
appointment.
He said Buhari was aware of such appointments and that some
traditional Christian leaders in northern Nigeria had complained to the former
president that they were also Christians who had voted for him but were not
being considered for appointments.
“At one time, some of the traditional church leaders in the
north actually went to Buhari and complained about the appointments. That they
too, they are Christians, they too, they voted for him, and so on and so
forth,” he said.
Lawal said Buhari did not explicitly tell him that the
appointments would affect his support for Osinbajo, but he believed the former
president’s reactions indicated his concerns.
“So, I suspect that this excessive preference for his church
members would affect Buhari,” he said.
“From his actions and body language, I could see that he was
scared that if Osinbajo became president, what Bola is doing, Osinbajo will do.
But again, he didn’t think it was decent for Osinbajo to contest with Bola
Tinubu,” Lawal added.
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