A report just coming in now has it that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved that sack of thirty-five aides working in the office of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
Daily Nigerian and TheCable both revealed that credible sources from the presidency confirmed the sack to be true and that it even affected aides who were issued appointment letters in August including some Senior Special Assistants, Special Assistants, Personal Assistants and Technical Assistants.
According to the report, Buhari, who is in the UK, approved the sack of the aides on Tuesday.
“Osinbajo is hoping that President Buhari will rescind the decision,” a senior presidency official told TheCable, maintaining that the sackings were done by a presidential aide, not the president himself.
Some of the affected aides were said to have been posted out to some line ministries relevant to their designation in October, and that they are expected to be issued with disengagement letters on Wednesday.
The development comes amid speculations of a frosty relationship between the number one and two citizens since the president’s second tenure.
Buhari’s decision to assent to the bill to amend the deep offshore and inland basin production sharing contract act from London where he is on a “private visit” fuelled the speculation of their deteriorating relationship.
The president had previously asked Osinbajo to seek presidential approvals for agencies under his supervision and also moved the National Social Investment Programme (N-SIP) from the vice-president’s office to a new ministry.
The president is currently in London, United Kingdom for a two-week “private visit” and is expected back in Abuja on November 17.
