L
LequteMan
Guest
Nigeria - Reports have highlighted how and why former Lagos governor, Babatunde Fashola missed out on being appointed as Secretary General of the Federation or the Chief of Staff of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Vanguard says this was as a result of a fallout of the endless squabbling and the fait accompli that was forced on President Buhari by Fashola's political opponents.
Buhari had on Thursday sidestepped the favourite nominees including Fashola and former Governor Ogbonnonya Onu to appoint Engr. David Lawal as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, and Abba Kyari as his Chief of Staff.
Fashola had been widely touted for the position largely on account of his organisational acumen and strides in Lagos as governor.
However, local political opponents of the former governor, especially within the APC were said to have been largely uncomfortable with his possible emergence as chief of staff, a position they believed would have given him the impetus to dominate the Southwest APC political leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Tinubu had denied being involved in the campaign however his close associates were known to have deployed other political schemes to knock Fashola out of contention for either the position of SGF or Chief of Staff.
The ultimate weapon that was used in neutralising Fashola, Saturday Vanguard learnt, was the nomination of a former commissioner in the Fashola administration as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the president but delegated to the office of the vice-president.
Mr. Ade Ipaye, SAN who worked as attorney general and commissioner for justice in the second term of the Fashola administration, it was gathered has been pencilled down as the deputy chief of staff to the president with responsibilities of working under the vice-president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.
The deployment of Mr. Ipaye, it was gathered, became the political masterstroke that was used in knocking Fashola out of reckoning in the stiff race for Chief of Staff.
Sources privy to the development disclosed that those against Fashola took advantage of the fact that Buhari is bent on operating a single presidency with only one chief of staff who would oversee the president’s affairs and a deputy chief of staff who would oversee the duties of the vice-president.
Given that Ipaye was projected to work with Osinbajo, it became untenable to have another Lagosian in the person of Fashola work as chief of staff.
Vanguard
Vanguard says this was as a result of a fallout of the endless squabbling and the fait accompli that was forced on President Buhari by Fashola's political opponents.
Buhari had on Thursday sidestepped the favourite nominees including Fashola and former Governor Ogbonnonya Onu to appoint Engr. David Lawal as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, and Abba Kyari as his Chief of Staff.
Fashola had been widely touted for the position largely on account of his organisational acumen and strides in Lagos as governor.
However, local political opponents of the former governor, especially within the APC were said to have been largely uncomfortable with his possible emergence as chief of staff, a position they believed would have given him the impetus to dominate the Southwest APC political leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Tinubu had denied being involved in the campaign however his close associates were known to have deployed other political schemes to knock Fashola out of contention for either the position of SGF or Chief of Staff.
The ultimate weapon that was used in neutralising Fashola, Saturday Vanguard learnt, was the nomination of a former commissioner in the Fashola administration as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the president but delegated to the office of the vice-president.
Mr. Ade Ipaye, SAN who worked as attorney general and commissioner for justice in the second term of the Fashola administration, it was gathered has been pencilled down as the deputy chief of staff to the president with responsibilities of working under the vice-president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.
The deployment of Mr. Ipaye, it was gathered, became the political masterstroke that was used in knocking Fashola out of reckoning in the stiff race for Chief of Staff.
Sources privy to the development disclosed that those against Fashola took advantage of the fact that Buhari is bent on operating a single presidency with only one chief of staff who would oversee the president’s affairs and a deputy chief of staff who would oversee the duties of the vice-president.
Given that Ipaye was projected to work with Osinbajo, it became untenable to have another Lagosian in the person of Fashola work as chief of staff.
Vanguard
