SAHARANEWS :There is intense pressure on Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to resign his position with immediate effect, SaharaNews has exclusively gathered.
Sources close to the vice president said since the latest developments in the presidency started, he has received calls from his mentors and loyalists within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to quit his position if he realises “the current developments in the presidency are attempts to humiliate him”.
“Since these developments started, a lot of concerned Nigerians have expressed their concern that the vice president should resign in order to avoid further humiliation. I think that is the intention of those behind the plot too. They want to frustrate him into quitting but I don’t think he (Osinbajo) will do that, at least not for now”, a credible source in the presidency said.
Trouble began last month when the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, issued a memo to Babatunde Fowler, chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), requesting him to account for significant variances in the budgeted collections and actual collections by the agency.
Though Fowler, who is a long standing associate of Osinbajo, replied the memo, many believed it was attempt by the presidency not to renew his term.
Also, President Muhammadu Buhari directed his new ministers to channel all requests for meetings with him through his Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari. Many Nigerians kicked against the move, saying that should have been delegated to Osinbajo, who is the number two man in the government.
On Monday, President Buhari dissolved the Economic Management Team (EMT) headed by Osinbajo and raised another, the Economic Advisory Council (EAC).
The new EAC, which reports directly to the president, will be chaired by an economist, Prof. Doyin Salami.
While Osinbajo has no role in the new economic team, it was also gathered that he may no longer be in charge of the Social Investment Programmes (SIPs) of the current administration, as the TraderMoni and other SIPs will now be handled by the new Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.
Another presidency source also confirmed that the staff of the vice president will be reduced in the days ahead “in a cost cutting measure”.