Human Rights lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), has advised Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to stand up and fight the cabals that are stripping him off relevant power in the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration or honorably resign.
Ozekhome said this while reacting to reports that President Buhari, who is currently on “private visit” in the UK, approved the sack at least 35 aides in the office of Osinbajo.
The lawyer claimed he predicted the fallout between Osinbajo and Buhari some five years ago and advised Osinbajo to brutally fight the cabals like a man that has manhood or quietly resign his position as vice president.
“I normally read situations and I say my own. Everything I have predicted in the last five years have always come to pass. I have made it clear and it is resounding now,” he said.
The Human Rights Activist made a reference to the long-standing feud between former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former President Olusegun Obasanjo during their second term.
According to him, Atiku was able to leave the office as Vice-President with his dignity intact because he brutally fought his then-boss both in the courts and at the political scene which saved him from being humiliated out of office. He said:
“Osinbajo has two options.
“The first option is to get ready to pull his punches and fight like a man that has manhood. He should fight squarely, frontally and brutally like a man with manhood.
“The second option is that he should honourably resign as vice president of Nigeria before they pour more ashes on his head and before they bespatter his white garment with more muds and more excrement. In these two options, there are no grey areas at all. They are just the two options available.
“He should either put his hat in the ring to fight the cabal squarely. Atiku fought Obasanjo squarely to the knowledge of everybody in this country. He fought brutally whether in court or on the political scene. In every way, Atiku fought Obasanjo to a standstill and everybody was aware.
“So, Osinbajo should be ready to do what Atiku did by fighting with all he can but if he cannot, he should take the honourable way out by resigning quietly. Otherwise, he will be so rubbished and reduced in significance and importance that he will not even be accorded the status of being a glorified messenger.
“In a situation where the president can send Osinbajo to his home town to go and witness the turbaning of a small chief and documents are being sent to the president to sign Nigerian laws in London, it is a clear case that when the market is on fire, you do not tell the deaf and the blind. They will know when they feel the heat.”
KanyiDaily had reported that there seems to be a frosty relationship between the president and his deputy since the beginning of their second term in office, with Buhari transferring some agencies under Osinbajo’s control to either his office or some ministries.
This development comes admit outrage among Nigerians over Buhari’s decision to assent to the bill to amend the deep offshore and inland basin production sharing contract act from London where he is on a “private visit”.
Buhari had previously asked Osinbajo to seek presidential approvals for agencies under his supervision and also moved the National Social Investment Programme (N-SIP) from the vice-president’s office to a new ministry.
