Tinubu backs Buhari's kitchen cabinet's actions against Osinbajo who he sees as a threat to his 2023 plans

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) national leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has been fingered as being a party to the current travails of vice president Professor Yemi Osinbajo as has emerged that he sees the number two man as a threat to his 2023 presidential ambitions.

Over the last week, President Buhari's kitchen cabinet known as the Daura cabal has really flexed its muscles taking control of several key levers of government and this is expected to continue over the coming months. Just this week alone, the head of the civil service of the federation Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita has been sacked, the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property chaired by Okoi Obono-Obla has been dissolved and the control of economic matters have been taken away from vice president Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

In a dramatic and audacious attack on the office of the vice president, the cabal managed to get President Buhari to agree to their plan to dissolve the Economic Management Team headed by Professor Osinbajo and replace it with an Economic Advisory Council under the chairmanship of Professor  Doyin Salami. Although this new body has several eminent scholars and brains like Dr Mohammed Sagagi, Dr Mohammed Salisu, Professor Ode Ojowu, Dr Shehu Yahaya, Dr Iyabo Masha, Professor Chukwuma Soludo and Mr Bismark Rewane, it will not be allowed to take any executive decisions.

All decisions in the presidency are currently being made President Buhari's kitchen cabinet made up of Abba Kyari, Mamman Daura, Isa Funtua and Baba Gana Kingibe. President Buhari has been reduced to a figure head who just rubber stamps their decisions, sometimes not aware of the decisions he is approving.

Fresh facts have emerged revealing that Asiwaju Tinubu backs the actions of President Buhari's kitchen cabinet as he sees Professor Osinbajo as a threat to his plans to run for president in 2023. Apparently, Asiwaju Tinubu had once approached the vice president to ask if he was nursing any presidential ambition to which the latter replied in the negative.

After this, Asiwaju Tinubu was said to have come across a video recording of a directive by Professor Osinbajo to his political associates on his plan to start campaigning for his presidential ambition almost two years into the tenure of his boss. This development was said to have angered Asiwaju Tinubu who noted that the vice president cannot be trusted.

It was due to the disagreement that the vice president’s nominee for the commissionership slot in Lagos State Obafemi George, was rejected by the Lagos State House of Assembly. It is also believed that some associates of the vice president had sought information on certain dealings of Asiwaju Tinubu while working abroad, with the intention of using it against his benefactor during the presidential elections.

President Buhari reportedly met recently with Asiwaju Tinubu and Chief Bisi Akande, former interim national chairman of the APC, during which he complained about certain actions of the vice president and allegedly asked the duo to prevail on Professor Osinbajo to resign his appointment from the cabinet. While Chief Akande was said to have opposed such action, Asiwaju Tinubu allegedly supported the president and claimed that nothing was wrong with Professor Osinbajo quitting if found to be culpable in some actions taken behind the president.

Already, several actions to further humble the vice president out of office are in the pipeline. These include the sacking of his associates from government and the plan not to renew the tenure of the present chairman of the Federal Internal Revenue Service, Babatunde Fowler.

Also, the retention of former director-general of the Department of State Service Lawal Daura, in the presidency as an adviser to the president, is designed to strengthen the opposition against the vice president. Mr Daura, who wrote reports which the cabal wanted to use to nail the vice president despite his sacking, has continued to retain his official quarters in the villa and works directly with the president.