None of Osinbajo's Aides Sacked - Buhari Breaks Silence Over Controversy In Presidency

By News Proof

The controversy surrounding the purported sack of 35 aides in the office of Vice President Yemi Osibanjo by President Muhammadu Buhari, became compounded on Saturday, as the President denied the termination of appointment of any aides in the Presidency.

Rather, President Buhari clarified that the appointees   were redeployed to a new ministry.

The President, who fielded questions from the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) State House Correspondent at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, upon his return from a private visit from the United Kingdom, described the interpretations of his directives as a sack as ‘unfortunate’.

He described what happened as a re-organisation and not a sack, stressing that, a new ministry has recently been created, that is, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.

“They said 35 people were sacked in the Vice President’s office but we just created a ministry and we reorganized but people are giving it an ethnic and political dimension. It is unfortunate,” the President said.

While media report had widely claimed the sack of 35 aides, including the circulation of a list of those sacked, informed sources insisted that what the President directed was redeployment and not a sack.

It was gathered that the President only gave express instructions for redeployment to ministries not sacking.

However, the clarification by Mr. President sharply contradicted the justification for the earlier sack of the 35 aides by one of his spokesmen, Mallam Garba Sheu, on November 8, 2019.