Aso Rock cabal now uses this minister to whip Osinbajo, Buhari reacts

V.P Yemi Osinbajo was supposed to stand in for his boss President Muhammadu Buhari at the Friday ECOWAS meeting in Niamey, Niger, but the cabal, again, botched it, as they preferred Foreign Affairs Minster Geoffrey Onyeama.

The back and forth thus created hindered smooth participation of Nigeria when Buhari, from London, eventually called Osinbajo directly to over-rule the cabal

According to sources at the Aso Rock Villa, Buhari had informed Osinbajo to represent him at the extraordinary session of heads of states in Niamey, hosted by the Nigerien president.

The Heads of State or their deputies could attend ECOWAS meetings.

Osinbajo, according to sources present, informed the Federal Executive Council, FEC, at a meeting held on Wednesday, about his trip to Niamey and this was accepted by the council.

But as his team was preparing for the Niamey trip, as was the usual practice, provision for advance party, as well as logistics was to be made for the team, then the so-called cabal butted in.

An official of the presidency informed the vice president’s office midday Thursday that the President had issued a new directive for Onyeama to represent him in Niamey.

This decision, however, angered the ECOWAS team.

Sources at the ECOWAS secretariat claimed that the lead organizer of the extraordinary session personally called the President Buhari in the United Kingdom.

President Buhari was said to have immediately reached out directly to his Osinbajo, and instructed him to proceed to Niamey.

But because of poor preparation and logistics issues, Osinbajo could not stay the night in Niamey.

This was the second instance of muscle-flexing between the V.P office and the backroom boy of the president.