APC presidential primary: Why Buhari didn’t go all out for Osinbajo against Tinubu in 2023 – Ex-SGF
Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, says the late former President Muhammadu Buhari considered it “highly immoral and distasteful” for his former vice-president, Yemi Osinbajo, to challenge Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.
Speaking in an interview with Symfoni TV published on YouTube on Thursday, Lawal said Buhari would have struggled to support Osinbajo against Tinubu because of his longstanding relationship with the former Lagos State governor.
According to Lawal, Buhari’s position stemmed from his loyalty to Tinubu, whom he described as the person who recommended Buhari for the presidency and later sought to succeed him.
“I’m very close to Buhari; I know him very well. He’s somebody that believes in loyalty. He’s somebody that does issues from the point of view of high morality,” the former SGF said of the late president.
Lawal maintained that Buhari would have regarded Osinbajo’s decision to contest the presidency against Tinubu as inappropriate, regardless of his opinion of Osinbajo’s suitability for the office.
“Buhari would find it highly immoral for Osinbajo to contest the same position with Bola Tinubu,” he said.
“In his type of character, he will find it distasteful because he knew the relationship before; he is the man who recommended him for president, and Bola wants it.”
Lawal added that Buhari would have disapproved of Osinbajo’s ambition “even if he believes that Osinbajo will be a better president or whatever”.
Osinbajo served as acting president during Buhari’s medical trips abroad and made several decisions while overseeing the presidency. One of them was the dismissal of Lawal Daura, then director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS), in August 2018.
The decision followed an incident in which DSS operatives barricaded the National Assembly complex in Abuja, preventing lawmakers and others from accessing the legislative chambers.
Daura is from Daura in Katsina State, Buhari’s hometown.
Buhari was unhappy with Osinbajo’s appointments
Lawal also attributed Buhari’s reservations about Osinbajo to what he described as the former vice-president’s preference for appointing members of his church.
He said Buhari knew that many of the people Osinbajo proposed for appointments in his office belonged to the same church as the former vice-president.
Osinbajo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), is also a pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).
Lawal recounted an incident in which a memo seeking approval for Osinbajo’s initial staff allegedly remained pending for about three months because it had not been forwarded to Buhari.
According to him, the document contained approximately 28 names, most of whom Buhari reportedly believed were Yoruba and members of Osinbajo’s church.
He said the memo was being discussed within the presidential villa, while the late Abba Kyari, who was then chief of staff to the president, had allegedly refused to forward it to Buhari.
Lawal said he eventually obtained a photocopy of the document and presented it directly to the president.
“I said, ‘Oga, see the date my Oga sent a memo. You have not approved. What is the problem?’” Lawal recalled.
He said Buhari examined the document and used a green biro to tick almost all the names listed.
“Out of 28, I think he ticked 26 with the green biro,” Lawal said, adding that Buhari remarked: ‘BD, these are all Yorubas.’”
Lawal said he explained that it was Osinbajo’s first memo of that kind and asked Buhari to approve the appointments, promising to discuss the concerns with the vice-president.
“I said, ‘Oga, this is his first memo. I will talk to him. You know, he’s just from Lagos,’” Lawal said.
According to the former SGF, Buhari subsequently approved the memo. Lawal then took it to the chief of staff and informed him that the president had authorised the appointments.
He said the incident was one of several occasions when Buhari took note of Osinbajo’s appointment decisions.
Osinbajo’s church appointments raised concerns
Lawal further alleged that Buhari was particularly concerned about appointments involving people connected to Osinbajo’s church.
He recalled that the head of the church where Osinbajo had served as a pastor received an appointment after Osinbajo became vice-president. Lawal claimed that the individual’s successor and the person who later replaced that successor also secured appointments.
The former SGF alleged that some of the appointees lacked sufficient experience for their positions.
He cited the case of an individual appointed to a position at the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), who he said had previously served as a level 12 officer at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Lawal said Buhari was aware of such appointments. He added that some traditional Christian leaders in northern Nigeria had complained to the former president that, despite being Christians who voted for him, they were not being considered for appointments.
“At one time, some of the traditional church leaders in the north actually went to Buhari and complained about the appointments. That they too, they are Christians, they too, they voted for him, and so on and so forth,” he said.
Lawal said Buhari never explicitly told him that the appointments would undermine his support for Osinbajo. However, he believed the former president’s reactions suggested that he had reservations.
“So, I suspect that this excessive preference for his church members would affect Buhari,” he said.
“From his actions and body language, I could see that he was scared that if Osinbajo became president, what Bola is doing, Osinbajo will do. But again, he didn’t think it was decent for Osinbajo to contest with Bola Tinubu,” Lawal added.