Osinbajo’s Harassment, Attack on Presidency, Says UK Group

A group of Nigerian patriots based in the United Kingdom, Nigeria 2015 Group (N2015G) has described the travail of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as an attack on the Presidency.

N2015G, a campaign group by members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari, said the vice president has demonstrated unflinching loyalty to the vision to his principal to free Nigeria from the scourge of corruption.

The group expressed the concern in a statement its Senior Campaign Strategist, Mr Charles Eze issued at the weekend, noting that the unrelenting persecution of the vice president “is an attack on the presidency.”

Buhari had penultimate Wednesday set up an Economic Advisory Council (EAC), appointing Prof. Doyin Salami as the chairman of the council, Prof. Ode Ojowu, Dr. Shehu Yahaya, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo and Mr. Bismark Rewane as members.

The advisory council would replace the Economic Management Team (EMT), which the office of the vice president had early set up as an economic advisory body to the National Economic Council (NEC) before it was disbanded.

After its constitution, the Presidency had also removed the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the National Social Investments Programmes (NSIP) from the Office of the Vice President, a development that sparked public outrage.

With these developments, a former deputy spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Timi Frank had alleged that Osinbajo mismanaged N90 billion allegedly made available by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for 2019 election campaign purposes. The FIRS had, however, denied the claim, saying it did not have such funds.

But in its statement Friday night, the UK group said it saw the unrelenting attacks on the vice president as attacks on the presidency, which it said, should be stopped in the interest of over 200 millions Nigerians.

The statement said the vice president had demonstrated the unwavering vision of Mr President “to grow a country free from the scourge of unbridled corruption and the capture of state resources by the few who deprive the great majority of Nigerians access to basic infrastructure necessary for the attainment of self-sufficiency and pursuit of happiness.”

It, also, observed that Osinbajo’s leadership of the economic team of Buhari’s government had culminated in the biggest and most focused peoplecentred investment in social welfare and wealth creation programmes in Nigeria’s history.

The statement said both Buhari and Osinbajo “have shown a clear departure from a past where trust was often in short supply between the President and the Vice President in previous governments at Aso Rock Villa seat of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“We stand with and are in total support of Osinbajo. We are most pleased by his actions and responses to these mendacious accusations. We are most gratified that Osinbajo continues to show to Nigerians that leaders can be positively different.

“His decision to waive his constitutional immunity to clear his name, his advice to his lawyers to take all necessary measures to bring the offending parties to the hall of justice, his direct and fearless public engagement with all debates is both reassuring and radically unheard of from the hallow chambers of Nigeria’s political power base.