Headline

Pendulum: Back to the Vice President and the Aso Rock Cabal

Published

7 years ago

November 9, 2019

Eric

By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, as much as one is tempted to gloss over the hullabaloo inside the seat of power in Abuja, it is virtually impossible because there is always one drama or the other emanating from the place too frequently these days. Indeed, the melodrama has since become one day, new scene. Despite endless denials on both sides of the divide by spokespersons for the principal dramatis personae, it seems obvious that things are no longer at ease between the offices of the President, Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, no matter how much they or their mouthpieces try to sweep the unfortunate mess under the carpet.

The latest farce surrounds the removal or otherwise of some of the aides of the Vice President. Approbation, confirmation and denials are rife. It is being touted that the Vice President had too many aides and so it was necessary for him to be shorn of some of them in keeping with the President’s new resolve to prudently manage resources and save government a lot of money. Nobody has said anything about how many of the President’s aides have got the sack. More importantly, I fail to see how this purported removal has anything to do with managing government resources when most if not all of these aides of the Vice President are funded by international donor agencies and not the Nigerian Government. The situation descends to the level of theater of the absurd if, as it is being suggested, they were redeployed to different Ministries, meaning that rather than plugging a drain on government they have become an added burden.

My beloved, all we have to do is apply some logic, and commonsense which is seemingly not too common nowadays. Some audacious people make bold to fool us when they tell us there is only one Presidency. Yes, there is, but that oneness has become more of a mirage in recent times! The day the President came out in the open to direct his cabinet to report practically to his Chief of Staff was the day he smashed the oneness into smithereens. There was no need or basis for such an open and public declaration of protocol. That it was openly voiced out, and etched and scripted in text which was handed to journalists and published and circulated freely, was ample evidence of how things have gone awry between the offices of the Number One and Number Two citizens of Nigeria. If this was the normal order of events before now, why was it necessary to put it in the public domain at this stage. If it was a new idea, why was a change necessary and, also, why was it essential to tell the whole world, two days in succession, particularly when this directive was for the consumption of only a few people!

Please, don’t get me wrong. I know that the office of the Vice President is totally at the mercy and prerogative of the President who appointed him. Even in America where we have borrowed our latest democratic experiment, the Vice President has no constitutional role apart from presiding over the Senate and having a casting tie-break vote or whatever assignment given by his boss. As John Adams, the first American Vice President and the Country’s second President, said of his position as Vice President to President George Washington, “My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man … or his imagination contrived or his imagination conceived.” Nevertheless, Adams stuck to his task and as the brilliant and astute man that he was, he transformed the position into one that has become indispensable to the democracy. Indeed, it is more than usual in America for Vice Presidents to succeed their Presidents, but this has not yet happened in Nigeria except on account of death of the incumbent. There is always a first time, and perhaps it is the intuitiveness and the knowledge that it is a foregone conclusion that this negative trend is about to be bucked that the babble and cacophony of strident opposition voices has risen to the biggest decibels. This is more so because of the personality and attributes of the incumbent, Osinbajo. For me, a Vice President is almost like a Company Secretary whose duty once upon a time was to act as a mere servant. But like Lord Denning said in 1971, about the role and function of the Company Secretary, “he is no longer a mere servant.” If the Vice President of Nigeria was once treated as an errand boy, by now, in 2019, such attitudes should have changed for many obvious reasons.

Professor Yemi Osinbajo is neither your run-of-the-mill Vice President nor a typical career politician. Before he was considered and chosen to run with President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, he came with intimidating credentials in both his private and public life. In all areas, he had just about reached the pinnacle of what there was to offer. He was also a stabilizing factor between the ever fighting and perennially suspicious Christians and Muslims of Nigeria. Why they are at loggerheads continues to beat me even till today. Religion should simply have no place in the politics or economic development of a country. Everyone agreed Buhari could not have made a better choice. He and Buhari appeared like a perfect couple and one could say the same of their wives. Theirs was like a match made in celestial places.

I won’t bore you with details of how trouble started brewing when President Buhari took ill and Vice President Osinbajo became Acting President. All that I know is some of the decisions he took did not go down well with the ultra conservative members in the Presidential Wing of the Villa, who not only had their own agenda but have the close ears of the President. They grumbled and groaned and lamented to whoever cared to listen that Osinbajo was plotting and planning to upstage his boss. One of the conspiracy theories was that some forces in the South West actually wished evil on the President. Despite the fact that no one had the proof or evidence of such dastardly plot, some people went about spreading the satanic stories. Thankfully, it does not appear that the President with his taciturn sagacity paid heed to such drivel, hopefully.

My take is that some elements are deliberately driving a wedge between the President and his Vice President whose relationship is apparently chummy. What is not known is how far the President has bought into the plot. The body language of the President now suggests that something has gone terribly amiss. The camaraderie that was always so patently obvious is palpably receding. The President has taken to relying on technicalities and monosyllables in his dealings with his Vice President. This was not the case before. If, as may be the case, some nebulous, insidious group of people are using the President’s name to pummel the Vice President and he is unaware that his dutiful and loyal Vice President is being humiliated before the whole world, that is even worse.

I don’t really blame those who abuse power. That is the pattern and tradition of those who wield enormous power by proxy. I hasten to add that the position of Chief of Staff is obviously a powerful position and sometimes people tend to forget this when they cast aspersions on the occupants. In Nigeria’s case, Mr Abba Kyari is a very sound and cerebral man. The President obviously recognizes that he needs him like oxygen. But I expect him and the Vice President to be able to manage their affair more guardedly with both of them coming from solidly, enviable intellectual backgrounds. Seems the allure of power is irresistible and causes the powerful to wear a new toga of eternal invincibility when indeed, it is very transient. It may be that this is the case because the occupants themselves forget the onerous nature of their job and the grave responsibilities that attaches to the position. Power is best asserted and utilised if treated with humility, deference and decorum.

Let me go back for as long as I can remember. Surrogates of power have tended to be overbearing and inordinately ambitious. They have not imbibed the core lessons that those who know the nature and effect of power teach. It will come and go, but how you have handled it will determine how you are treated in its aftermath – Hero or villain. In Nigeria it has been a lot more of the latter and the lessons have still not been learnt.

In the days of President Shehu Aliyu Shagari, one name was very prominent, Dr Umaru Dikko, who was the defacto President. When the government was overthrown by Muhammadu Buhari and company, Dikko became the main target. He fled to London. The government arranged for a living Dikko to be packed and crated in a coffin like a cadaver and he was nearly smuggled back to face the music in Nigeria. Under the government of General Murtala Muhammed, Chief Moshood Abiola was known to have been his close friend. This drew the ire of many military leaders who waited for many years before pouncing on him.

Major-General Tunde Idiagbon was the second-in-command and the dreaded face of the Buhari regime. His scowling mean face remains indelibly printed in the brain of not just the Second Republic politicians but the generality of the populace. Once flushed out power he reverted to relative obscurity and died unheralded! When President Ibrahim Babangida assumed power, Colonel Sambo Dasuki was reported to have treated Major General Muhammadu Buhari shabbily. No one would have expected Buhari to ever come back to power. But God’s ways are not that of man. Today, Buhari is President, Dasuki has been in detention and incarcerated for many years despite a plethora of Courts ordering that he should be freed.

When General Olusegun Obasanjo was in power as a military ruler from 1976-79, Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua was very influential. He wielded that power and attained great affluence even after they left power. He wanted to come back as civilian President, but his dream never materialised. He and his former business partner, Chief Abiola had similar interests and ambitions. Abiola contested and won, but the top military echelons kicked against him. His victory was aborted, his ambition truncated and he was deprived and robbed of his mandate. Abacha who became President after the whole debacle dealt ruthlessly with Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Abiola by keeping them in prison. Only Obasanjo returned alive. Not just that, he came back to be President. A true cat with nine lives! Ebora Owu indeed!

When General Sani Abacha was President, the commonest name on everyone’s lips was Major Hamza Al-Mustapha. When Abacha died, Al-Mustapha was kept in prison for so many years in the days Obasanjo was in power. Mohammed Abacha, the General’s son, who had also lived larger than life and was himself an unofficial Deputy Head of State was also kept away.

When Umaru Musa Yar’Adua became President, the name of Tanimu Yakubu reigned supreme despite being only the Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief Economic Adviser to the President. The name of Hajia Turai Yar’Adua, the First Lady, would later feature on the list of those labeled as the ‘cabal’ who controlled shots when Yar’Adua laid mortally stricken. Perhaps it was the First Lady’s involvement that saved Tanimu’s bacon.

Step forward President Goodluck Jonathan. Two names featured prominently under his government, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke and that of First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. Since Buhari returned in 2015 as President, the duo have known no peace.

I have gone through the stories of these different era to show how transient and ephemeral power is. The three things driving these wars of attrition in the name of a power struggle are money, ethnicity and religion. They are the reasons our country is retrogressing. There is no justification for the struggle based on national interest or patriotism. The protagonists are interested only in their primordial, parochial and base instincts. While the world is thinking outside the box, we have chosen to bury ourselves inside the cocoon of backwardness. The most educated people in Nigeria will throw sanity, reason and decorum to the winds once those three selfish interests are involved. Friends become enemies and enemies become friends. Principle, honour and integrity are thrown to the dogs. Woe betide anyone who stands in the way. That is the crux of the fiasco that we face today. The Vice President and his team are merely victims of the interplay of those forces.

However, what nobody should forget is that what will be will be and students of history may do well to look again into the story of John Adams who was the first American President to see his son, John Quincy Adams succeed to the American Presidency as the sixth President of America. When we decide to recognise and embrace excellence and not fight against it, then we shall become better as a nation.

It seems, we are not yet ready to do the needful …

Headline

GbajaGate: I’ve Done No Wrong, Govt Playing to Shut Me Up – Adeyemi Matthew Speaks from Hiding

Published

1 day ago

July 2, 2026

Eric

Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, the man alleged to have forged government appointment letters and falsely paraded himself as the Director-General of the alleged Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) and Presidential Economic Advisory Council, has denied the allegations against him, claiming the Presidency is attempting to silence him.

Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES from an undisclosed location on Thursday, Adeyemi insisted he had done nothing wrong and described the government’s actions as a “defence mechanism.”

“You know the government we have. They are just playing a defence mechanism to shut me up. My organisation was set up in 2024,” he said.

Adeyemi declined to disclose his whereabouts, saying he had gone into hiding because his life was under threat.

“They are now after my life. I have gone into hiding. I’m underground,” he said.

When asked whether he had fled the country, he declined to respond directly.

“I will not be able to disclose any information now. I don’t consider myself safe,” he added.

The embattled suspect also declined to provide his alleged appointment letter or any document to support his claim that he was legitimately appointed, saying his lawyers had advised him not to discuss the matter publicly.

“I just decided to speak to you out of respect. My lawyers are working on something. Whatever they say, I will let you know,” he said.

The Presidency has accused Adeyemi of forging appointment letters and other official documents while falsely presenting himself as Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council and the Presidential Economic Advisory Council, agencies it insists do not exist.

Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, said Adeyemi and two others have been charged before the Federal High Court on an eight-count charge bordering on forgery, impersonation and related offences.

According to the Presidency, concerns first emerged after the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission reported that another body appeared to be performing functions similar to its statutory responsibilities.

The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, subsequently petitioned the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force, alleging that forged appointment letters bearing fake signatures, official seals and reference numbers had been used to create the impression that the suspects were presidential appointees.

The Presidency said investigations revealed that Adeyemi and his associates allegedly operated from an office within the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja, held meetings with Nigerian and foreign officials and sought diplomatic support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for visa applications.

According to the Presidency, police arrested Adeyemi on October 27, 2025, after which searches conducted at his office and residence allegedly yielded forged government documents.

Investigators also alleged that financial intelligence uncovered 34 bank accounts linked to Adeyemi, including accounts allegedly opened in the names of purported government agencies.

The Presidency further claimed that Adeyemi used forged documents to open an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria in the name of the alleged agency, although investigators found that no public funds were paid into the account.

Onanuga also dismissed allegations that Gbajabiamila demanded money from Adeyemi, saying the accusations surfaced only after the suspect was granted police bail.

The case is scheduled to come up before the Federal High Court on July 27.

Headline

Court Dismisses Abejide’s Suit, Upholds Mark-led Leadership of ADC

Published

1 day ago

July 2, 2026

Eric

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday affirmed Sen. David Mark’s leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Justice Musa Liman, in a judgment, also dismissed the suit filed by Rep Leke Abejide challenging Mark and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as national chairman and national secretary of the party for lacking merit.

Justice Liman upheld the preliminary objections filed by ADC, Chief Ralph Nwosu, Mark and Aregbesola which challenged Abejide’s suit.

The judge held that the court lacked the jurisdiction to dabble in the internal affairs of ADC, as the suit was non-justiciable.

He also held that Abejide lacked the legal right to have instituted the suit, having failed to show to the court that his rights had been violated in any way as a result of the emergence of Mark-led leadership.

He equally held that Abejide, who is a member of the House of Representatives, failed to explore the party’s internal mechanism for dispute resolution.

Justice Liman also resolved the three issues in the substantive suit in favour of the defendants.

On whether Mark, the former Senate president and Aregbesola, who was the former Governor of Osun, emerged as leaders of the party in compliance with the enabling laws, the judge resolved this against Abejide, the plaintiff in the suit.

He held that the handing over of the leadership of the party by Nwosu to Mark did not violate the provisions of the party’s constitution.

The judge agreed that the disputed July 2, 2025, meeting of the party was a stakeholder meeting which preceded the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on July 29, 2025, which produced Mark and Aregbesola as the party’s leaders and was monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Justice Liman, therefore, declared that the emergence of Mark and Aregbesola as leaders of ADC was valid and in accordance with the constitution, the Electoral Act, 2026 and the party’s law.

The judge consequently awarded a fine of N2 million each in favour of all the defendants which shall be paid by Abejide.

He also awarded a N10 million fine against Abejide’s lawyer in compliance with the Electoral Act, 2026.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Abejide had instituted the suit to stop the Mark-led leadership of ADC.

In the originating summons, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1637/2025, filed on Feb. 15 by Idris, the lawmaker sued ADC, Ralph Nwosu, Mark, Aregbesola and INEC as 1st to 5th defendants respectively.

NAN reports that Nwosu was the former national chairman of ADC who stepped down for Mark, the ex-Senate president.

Abejide, among the eight reliefs, sought an order nullifying Nwosu’s handover or transfer of ADC’s leadership to Mark and Aregbesola as interim national chairman and interim national secretary respectively on July 2, 2025, at Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre, Abuja, for being illegal, unlawful, null and void.

He sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining Mark and Aregbesola from parading themselves as leaders of the party “as their purported appointment, selection or election was unlawful, illegal, null and void.”

He also sought perpetual injunction restraining INEC from recognising Mark and Aregbesola as ADC’s interim national chairman and interim national secretary.

He alleged that their appointment, selection or election did not meet the requirements of Section 82 of the Electoral Act, 2022, among other prayers.

NAN

Headline

Alleged N27.4bn Scandal: Presidency Exonerates Gbajabiamila, Says Adeyemi Matthew is a ‘Con Artist’

Published

2 days ago

July 2, 2026

Eric

The Presidency has volunteered details on how a certain Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, allegedly built an elaborate web of forged documents, fake government appointments and fictitious agencies to deceive public officials and present himself as a senior presidential appointee under the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

The Presidency, in a statement issued on Wednesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, described Adeyemi as “a con artist” who allegedly used forged appointment letters bearing the name of the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, to create and operate a non-existent Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, later referred to as the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.

According to the statement, the alleged scam was uncovered after officials of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council raised concerns that another purported government agency appeared to be operating alongside it.

The Office of the Chief of Staff subsequently alerted security agencies, accusing unnamed individuals of forging official appointment letters purportedly issued from his office.

“The attention of this office has been drawn to the activities of certain individuals and groups engaged in the forgery of official appointment letters purportedly issued from my office,” Gbajabiamila said in a petition dated October 17.

“The fake documents, bearing falsified signatures, reference/folio numbers, and seals, have been used to claim leadership appointments to non-existent entities, with particular reference to the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council.”

The Chief of Staff disclosed that Adeyemi had allegedly established an office at the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja, where he reportedly hosted meetings with Nigerians and foreign nationals while presenting himself as the Director-General of the fictitious agency.

According to the petition, the group even sought diplomatic support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate United States visas for its purported staff.

“The above development not only constitutes a serious criminal act but also undermines the integrity of the Presidency and the credibility of official government communication,” Gbajabiamila wrote.

“I therefore urge you to initiate a thorough investigation to identify and apprehend those involved and also to uncover the network facilitating the forgery.”

Foreign Affairs Ministry raises red flag

The statement revealed that concerns over Adeyemi’s activities had also reached the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs after he reportedly convened a meeting with ambassadors at the Wells Carlton Hotel and Apartments in Abuja on October 10, 2025, without the ministry’s knowledge.

In a letter dated October 15, 2025, signed by Ambassador Anderson Madubuike and addressed to the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Office of the Chief of Staff, the ministry sought clarification regarding the status of the purported agency.

“This act contravenes extant rules and regulations guiding diplomatic practices globally,” the ministry stated.

The enquiries triggered correspondence among the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Office of the Chief of Staff.

Responding to the enquiries, Gbajabiamila categorically denied appointing Adeyemi or recognising the agency.

“Prince Adeniyi Matthew, Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, is unknown to any office, nor do we have any dealings with the said council,” he wrote.

“My attention was drawn to a letter of this purported application, which is fake, and my office has instructed the police and other relevant security agencies to carry out investigations on the person and the entity he claims to represent.”

The Presidency stressed that the Chief of Staff could not have issued any appointment letter because appointments into government offices are the exclusive responsibility of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Police uncover alleged forgery network

Following the petition, the Police launched an investigation and arrested Adeyemi on October 27, 2025, at the Abuja office from where he allegedly operated the scheme.

Searches conducted at both his office and residence in Suleja reportedly yielded several documents and exhibits believed to be connected with the operation.

Investigators said Adeyemi claimed that one Dolapo Babatunde Tanimola assisted him in procuring the forged appointment letter.

However, police investigations established that Tanimola had died in a fire incident at Kachi Hotel in Abuja on October 22, 2025, five days before Adeyemi’s arrest.

According to the State House, investigators established that the agency Adeyemi claimed to head never existed, while the appointment letters and several official documents recovered during the investigation were allegedly forged.

Police also accused him of falsely presenting himself as a presidential appointee and fraudulently requesting a diplomatic note verbale from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate visa applications for himself and members of his organisation.

Investigators further alleged that Adeyemi operated no fewer than 34 bank accounts, including nine accounts opened in the names of fictitious organisations, including the FCT Investment Promotion Agency and Public Private Partnership (FIPA-APP).

The investigation also found that he allegedly succeeded in opening a Central Bank of Nigeria account by misleading the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation using forged documents.

The Presidency, however, noted that investigators confirmed no government funds were ever paid into the account.

“The act of the suspect constitutes criminal forgery, impersonation and obtaining by false pretence, thereby bringing the office of the Chief of Staff to the President and the Presidency to disrepute before the public and international community,” the police report stated.

Eight-count charge filed

Based on the outcome of the investigation, police filed an eight-count charge before the Federal High Court in Abuja against Adeyemi and two alleged accomplices on November 27, 2025.

The matter is scheduled for hearing on July 27.

According to the Presidency, Adeyemi, while on police bail, recently resurfaced with fresh claims that the Chief of Staff had genuinely appointed him as Director-General of the agency.

The statement noted that the claim directly contradicted the statement he voluntarily made to investigators during the police probe.

It said the renewed allegation prompted Gbajabiamila to issue another public disclaimer on June 8, reaffirming that Adeyemi was an impostor.

Presidency urges caution

The Presidency said Adeyemi had a history of alleged fraudulent misrepresentation, recalling that in 2016 he allegedly presented himself as President-General of the World Youth Organisation, claiming it was affiliated with the United Nations before the UN reportedly disowned the organisation.

Describing the case as that of “a con artist who appears to have built a web of false claims to deceive unsuspecting government officials and the public,” the Presidency urged politicians and members of the public to avoid drawing conclusions before the ongoing criminal trial is concluded.

It further advised that, since the matter is before the court, interested parties should allow the judicial process to determine the allegations against Adeyemi and his co-defendants.