By Ariyo-Dare Atoye
\nNaivety is not an excuse in politics and certainly not after spending
\nabout two years in the topmost level of powers. Vice President Yemi
\nOsinbajo is certainly learning the ropes; but how very fast is only known
\nto him. He could only be on top of his game in the nasty days ahead, in
\ndealing with people who are vociferous about using powers to peddle
\ninfluence and undermine anything. No doubt he had, in acting capacity as a
\nPresident for 50 days less, demonstrated, affectionate capacity to preside
\nover the affairs of Nigeria, but the covert side of power play is far more
\nthan that. It is wickedly sophisticated in our clime. The daunting
\nquestion is, has he, reasonably, learnt how to navigate the dangerous bend
\nof power politics which is trapped with deadly potholes? This road
\ndestroys if; you do not know how to maneuver it with the right speed and
\nsense.<\/p>\n
The VP has been saddled with a delicate task of unraveling the mystery
\nbehind the huge cash discovered in the Osborne Apartments in Ikoyi, Lagos
\nState and to equally untangle the invasive scandal of grass cutting
\nbusiness allegedly awarded to self, by the now suspended Secretary to the
\nGovernment of the Federation, Mr David Babachir Lawal. This assignment is
\ndeceptive and is laced with some elements of conspiracy on all sides. It
\nwould require sound political wisdom for the Vice President to come out of
\nit unscathed. He is presiding over a committee in which the remaining two
\nother members have some level of interests and involvements in the matters
\nunder investigation. Caution.<\/p>\n
While the villa, albeit pretentiously, and some very na\u00efve persons had
\nbandied the rising unassailable and adorable image of Osinbajo as the
\nreason for being saddled with such \u201can unnecessary\u201d task, the covert
\nmotive is very well known to the schemers. Remember the impulsive echo of
\nBabachir Lawal: \u201cWho is the Presidency?\u201d While we were busy scolding him
\nfor that pregnant statement, he had strategically \u201cunleashed the dragon,\u201d
\nby confirming the \u201cgovernment within government,\u201d allegation once made
\nagainst the executive by the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki.
\nAsoRock has become a den of a few influence peddlers and power mongers who
\nwould continue to take advantage of our indisposed President to run the
\naffairs of the state by \u201cworking from home.\u201d<\/p>\n
In this unfolding tricky complex game, did Osinbajo really know, and has
\nhe ascertained who the Presidency is that constituted the panel and the
\nunderlying motive for it? There would be no excuse in future for a
\nProfessor of Law that he was used as a pawn by influence peddlers in a
\nhatchet task. And if he is unaware, this is the time to put on his
\nthinking cap to discreetly unravel the web of conspiracy spiraling around
\nthe seat of power. You don\u2019t need to be a lawyer to know that the Osinbajo
\npanel is inconsequential to the extent of its formation. The VP is advised
\nto do his own backend findings, including the slant in commentaries by
\npro-establishment writers and commentators.<\/p>\n
This administration is soiled in divisive religious card; it is yet to
\nacquit itself of some allegations bothering on parochialism and religious
\nbigotry. Babachir Lawal has seen fellow cabals in the administration
\ngetting away with worse acts in a circle of impunity, and the system came
\nout to defend them vigorously. He is still startled as to why his own
\nshould be different as member of the cabals. But I always knew that
\nBabachir would be used as the \u201cfall-cabal,\u201d someday, and sorry to tell him
\nthat, there are some cabals who are more equal than other cabals, and
\ncoupled with that, he is from the \u201cguinea pigs\u201d Christian minority, of the
\nHausa\/Fulani dominated Northern politics.<\/p>\n
The top members of the club have found him suitable for the much-expected
\npolitical sacrifice to remedy a discredited anti-corruption campaign and a
\nfailing government. The Pastoral garb of Osinbajo, a Christian leader in
\nthe administration was found to be helpful enough, to sacrifice and exit
\nLawal from the notorious league of the presidency cabals, and equally
\nneutralise the emerging allegation of \u201cbecause he is a Christian\u201d biases
\nin the media.<\/p>\n
It is obvious that the suspension of Lawal by the same system that had,
\nthrough the Attorney General of the Federation, Ababukar Malami,
\npreviously cleared him on allegations made by the Senate, is curious,
\nsuspicious and indeed an afterthought. But it is my take that Lawal and
\nthose who are found to have betrayed public trust deserve to go, but it
\nshould not be to the exclusion of other \u201csinful cabals,\u201d because of the
\ncontent of their bio-data. This may apparently be the worries of the
\nsuspended SGF.<\/p>\n
In a similar fashion, the Director General of the National Intelligence
\nAgency (NIA), Ayo Oke, is also in a shock over his suspension. The media
\nis awash with a claim that he had appropriately informed the National
\nSecurity Adviser, Babagana Moguno, about the Osborne \u201ccovert\u201d cash. The
\nNSA on the hand has not denied this media report and back-channel
\ninformation that he indeed had knowledge of the cash. The superior
\ninformation remains that the Presidency was aware of the money via the
\nNSA.<\/p>\n
The question then is, why did Magu ignore the Galton\u2019s whistle in the
\nsecurity circle and deliberately moved after the cash to burst
\n\u201csomething?\u201d Is it a payback? Yushau Shuaib, a media expert who had
\npreviously worked with the office of the NSA, in his latest article titled
\n\u201cThat NIA\u2019s Black-Budget and Mysterious Whistle-blower,\u201d said something
\nvery instructive:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe incident is coming at a period of an intense inter-agency rivalry
\nwhere security agencies were allegedly reported to be behind the leakages
\nof classified and confidential information to smear their perceived
\noppositions within the same government\u2026.. With all fingers pointing to
\nthe fact that the money belongs to NIA, the burden of proof is who is the
\nmysterious whistle-blower? Could the whistle-blower have acted on behalf
\nof an agency engaged in the rivalry or was it as major
\ncounter-intelligence operation by foreign interests to expose and
\nembarrass our intelligence network?\u201d<\/p>\n
The VP doubles as the most senior legal mind of the administration, but if
\nhe had accepted the headship of a needless committee in order not to be
\nmisconstrued; there was no justifiable reason in accepting the membership
\nof the AGF on that panel. Also now that emerging facts have confirmed the
\nculpability of the NSA in the \u201cBlack Money,\u201d why then is Osinbajo still
\ncarrying on with these two \u201cculpable\u201d figures without asking the President
\nto excuse them?<\/p>\n
The whole truth concerning the attached interest to the Osborne cash may
\nnever be uncovered under the Buhari\u2019s administration, except maybe if, the
\nSenate decides to investigate the matter thoroughly through a bipartisan
\ncommittee. However, legislative inquiry itself is not a full guarantee of
\nfull disclosure. But one day the truth will come out. However, Osinbajo
\nmust be very wary of the sharp political bends ahead of him. Truth and
\naudacity in humility are sacrosanct.<\/p>\n
* Atoye contributed this piece from Abuja via aristotle001us@yahoo.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Ariyo-Dare Atoye Naivety is not an excuse in politics and certainly not after spending about two years in the topmost level of powers. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is certainly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n