An investigative report has revealed the
member of the alleged Aso Rock cabal that
is responsible for inserting the
controversial ‘Coordinator of Affairs’ clause
in Buhari’s letter to the Senate.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of
Staff, Abba Kyari, has been named as the
architect of the president’s controversial
letter to the National Assembly informing
legislators that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo
was to be the “coordinator” of government
activities during Mr. Buhari’s latest trip to
Britain to undergo urgent medical care.
The phrasing of the letter, a departure from
President Buhari’s previous ones where Mr.
Osinbajo was explicitly named “Acting
President,” has generated widespread
discussion and a measure of political
tension within Nigeria.
Several high-ranking sources at the
Presidency confirmed to SaharaReporters
that the decision to use the phrase, “the
Vice President will coordinate the activities
of the Government,” instead of expressing
what the Constitution stipulates, that the
Vice President becomes “Acting President”
with the transmission of the letter, was
singularly taken by Mr. Kyari.
Our Presidency sources added that they
were not even certain that Mr. Abba Kyari
bothered to seek the opinion of the
Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, before
drafting the much-discussed memo to the
National Assembly. However, the sources
said President Buhari had in the past
insisted that the Attorney General should at
all times be informed about such important
constitutional communication between him
and the National Assembly.
One source said Mr. Buhari was irate on
learning about the political fallout from the
ill-motivated decision to alter the usual
content of his letter to the National
Assembly.
“Abba Kyari has some explanation to make
to the President who was completely taken
by surprise,” said one source. The source
asserted that the President signed the letter
on Sunday, after a quick glance, with the
understanding that the letter was couched
the same way as the previous letter he
signed when he went on an extended
medical leave last January. “I can assure you
that he never knew of the ridiculous
insertion of the word ‘coordinating’ in his
letter,” said the source.
Another source accused Mr. Kyari of
fomenting moves in the past designed to
cause confusion between the President and
his ministers, and between the Vice
President and the President, adding that Mr.
Buhari had on several occasions scolded the
Chief of Staff for his mischievous maneuvers.
“Mr. President has often sharply rebuked
[Mr. Kyari], insisting that things must be
done properly and constitutionally,” said the
source.
But the source remarked that, after each
presidential reprimand, Mr. Kyari seemed to
get even more desperate to sow seeds of
discord, to the point of taking decisions
which Mr. Buhari often would confide in
associates he did not recall authorizing. The
Nigerian President, who is officially 74 years
old, is believed by some to be older and to
be plagued by the usual ravages of old age,
including a failing memory.
Our sources said one occasion when Mr.
Buhari confronted his Chief of Staff was
when Mr. Kyari inserted himself as a board
member of the Nigeria National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC). The sources described
Mr. Kyari’s inclusion on the NNPC board as
curious and needless, adding that President
Buhari confronted the Chief of Staff on that
decision.
Mr. Kyari reportedly insisted that the
President had approved the entire list
presented to him as members of the NNPC
board. “Everyone at the Presidency was
shocked when that happened because we
knew that Mr. President had never approved
the inclusion of Abba Kyari,” one source
insisted.
SaharaReporters also learned that the Chief
of Staff recently sidelined Information
Minister, Lai Mohammed, when Mr. Kyari set
aside the minister’s list of heads of agencies
under his ministry and brought his own
names. “Since then, Abba Kyari blocked
every attempt by the Information Minister,
Lai Mohammed, to see Mr. President until the
release of the Chibok girls last weekend,”
said the source.
