"Osinbajo has been rendered useless and impotent," Afenifere fumes

The Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, says it has been monitoring recent developments at the nation's seat of power closely, with the presidency issuing a statement on Tuesday, September 17, 2019 to state that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo hasn’t fallen out with President Muhammadu Buhari.

President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo before a FEC meeting (Presidency) Pulse Nigeria

Media reports suggest that a couple of tasks have been yanked off Osinbajo’s desk and that the president has issued a memo to the vice president, asking his deputy to seek approvals from him henceforth in the running of certain agencies.

'Not jumping into premature conclusion'

“We are watching as events unfold. We are studying the situation, but we must also not muddle up issues”, Afenifere spokesperson Yinka Odumakin told Punch.

“For now, we will not jump into any premature conclusion that this is about 2023 alone.

“We will need more information to know whether it is political or whether there was abuse of office or process.

“But the barrage of the last 48 hours shows that there is something wrong.

Yinka Odumakin says Afenifere is monitoring events at the Villa closely (Punch) Pulse Nigeria

“We will wait to have all the facts because we don’t want to say a Yoruba man is being attacked.

“They may have had a justifiable reason to do so; but we are taking note of every development and at the appropriate time, we will make our position known.

“But clearly, what has happened is that the VP’s office has been rendered impotent, useless and irrelevant,” Odumakin added.

The EMT dissolution fueled speculation

President Buhari has dissolved the Economic Management Team (EMT) chaired by Osinbajo, while naming an 8-man Economic Advisory Council (EAC) which will report directly to him, as a replacement.

There are also widespread insinuations that President Buhari is planning to strip the vice president of his brainchild Social Investment Programme (SIP) which comprises the TraderMoni Scheme, N-Power, the school feeding programme, among others.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and a former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair met behind closed-doors at the Presidential Villa on Friday, April 5, 2019 [Twitter/@MobilePunch] Pulse Nigeria

The vice president’s spokesperson, Laolu Akande, however insists that all is well at the villa.

“The vice president remains committed to the service of his fatherland and will continue to do so despite the purveyors of fake news.

“We urge media organisations, as gatekeepers, to uphold truth, balance, fairness and objectivity in their reports,” Akande said in a statement.