Osinbajo only carries out Buhari’s directives — Presidency

*’Comparison between President, Vice divisive tactics of opposition’

There’s nothing that has been done since the Vice President started acting that is not something that started far back in the past. A good example is the Niger Delta initiative. The President called the Vice President and said I am giving you the mandate, go into the Niger Delta meet with everyone who is a stakeholder, all the communities, talk to the militants and make sure you solve this problem for the benefits of Nigerians.  We’re losing 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, all the gas pipelines powering the turbines are being blown up. And the President has said unless and until we resolve this problem we will not get out of recession. The VP took up the mandate and went to the Niger Delta. It is the initiative of Mr. President, not that of Vice President.”

In what appears to be a reaction at the top echelon of government to the talk in some quarters that Acting President Yemi Osinbajo’s commendable performance in the short time he has acted in absence of President Muhammadu Buhari shows he is better than his boss, the Presidency on Monday cleared the minds of all saying Osinbajo had done nothing other than implementing the mandate given to him by the President.

He hinted also that the Acting President was working very hard to impress President Muhammadu Buhari that he was capable of ensuring the nation move on well in his (the President’s) absence.

Giving the hint on Monday in an interview with State House correspondents in Abuja was the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, who described the comparison being made between Buhari and Osinbajo as thoughtless, saying it was a ploy by the opposition to cause an unnecessary ‎division between President Buhari and his Vice, Osinbajo.

Osinbajo has been acting as President since January 19 when Buhari embarked on vacation in the United Kingdom.

Ojudu, when asked whether Osinbajo had been consulting Buhari, said he had been consulting the President, “Almost on a daily basis, yes.‎ Well, there are things he still needs to consult the President. I mean it is not a regular thing, but major decisions he still has to consult Mr. President. The President is still the President.”

“I will give you an example. There’s nothing that has been done since the Vice President started acting that is not something that started far back in the past. A good example is the Niger Delta initiative. The President called the Vice President and said I am giving you the mandate, go into the Niger Delta meet with everyone who is a stakeholder, all the communities, talk to the militants and make sure you solve this problem for the benefits of Nigerians.  We’re losing 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, all the gas pipelines powering the turbines are being blown up. And the President has said unless and until we resolve this problem we will not get out of recession. The VP took up the mandate and went to the Niger Delta. It is the initiative of Mr. President, not that of Vice President.”

“One other thing you have to see is that if you give someone a responsibility, he must be able to show to Mr. President that despite that he is not being around, it is not going to create any vacuum. He can then decide not to sleep at all, all through the time the President is away just to show him that he is capable of ensuring that Nigeria goes on well while he is away.

“And the President could also have given the mandate that let nothing go wrong, I believe in you, I appointed you as my Vice President, you must make sure that you do this. If you have a boss who gives you an assignment, you will want to impress him and Nigerians as well and that for me is what has happened. ‎Is not that one person is better than the other, certainly not.”