After three months' medical leave, President Muhammadu Buhari's return
to Abuja on 19 August has failed to inject a new spirit of dynamism
into government business.
A cabinet meeting planned for 23 August was cancelled at short
notice. That was, we were told, to allow Buhari and Vice-President Yemi
Osinbajo to discuss investigations into two suspended officials,
Secretary to the Government of the ...
After three months' medical leave, President Muhammadu Buhari's return
to Abuja on 19 August has failed to inject a new spirit of dynamism
into government business.
A cabinet meeting planned for 23 August was cancelled at short
notice. That was, we were told, to allow Buhari and Vice-President Yemi
Osinbajo to discuss investigations into two suspended officials,
Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir Lawal, and
Director General of the National Intelligence Agency Ayodele Oke.
Another reason, still less plausible, for the cancelled cabinet
was the need for renovations at the Presidential offices. 'There are
rats in the building,' said an official wryly, unclear whether the
rodents were metaphorical ones. The inertia over the cases of Lawal and
Oke shows the strict limits of Osinbajo's power as acting President in
Buhari's absence. Although Osinbajo said he consulted regularly with
Buhari, he was unable to sack either Lawal or Oke, let alone name
replacements.
Osinbajo, who insists that substantive progress has been made on
economic restructuring and security reform, admits to frustration at
the pace of the promised fight against corruption. Not only have cases
against officials from the previous government dragged on but there are
signs of a new wave of crooked foreign exchange and oil deals.
Sceptical about the executive's political will, senior politicians in
the National Assembly claim to be amassing evidence on these cases.