The former Inspector General of Police, IGP Mohammed Adamu, was not on official duty with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo when sacked, a Presidency source has said.
A controversy had been created on the social media, the opposition querying why President Muhammadu Buhari would sack Adamu when on the entourage of Osinbajo during his state visit to Owerri if not that the VP had been isolated from government decisions.
But a top presidential source refuting the claim described it as unfounded, but the handiwork of mischief makers whose trade in stock was to spread falsehood.
The source said those commenting didn’t understand the workings of government, contending that the uproar generated by the opposition after the sack of the former IGP Adamu over claims he was on the entourage of Vice President Osinbajo as of that time was needless.
Though the source, who didn’t deny the presence of Adamu in Owerri, the Imo State capital on Tuesday, the same day Osinbajo visited, stressed that, “the former IGP was leaving town when Osinbajo arrived.”
Vice President Osinbajo was on a state visit to Owerri, on Tuesday, to assess the extent of damage done by the gunmen who attacked the state’s Correctional Centre and the Police Command, but his spokesman said, the former IGP was not on the entourage of his principal during the state visit.
“The sacked IGP came on his own to the state, while Osinbajo was in Imo on a previous invitation by the governor to commission some projects,” the source said.
On those who came to Imo State with Vice President Osinbajo, the impeccable source said, “He was accompanied on the visit by the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba; Minister of State for Steel and Mines Development, Uchechukwu Ogah; and the Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Senator Babafemi Ojudu.”
“After commissioning the project, the Vice President then visited the Correctional facility, and the state Police Command attacked on Monday. During the visit to the burnt facilities, the Interior Minister joined the VP delegation. The former IGP was leaving town when Osinbajo arrived. They were on absolutely different missions.
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“The Vice President already had a scheduled official working visit to Imo State to commission some projects at the instance of the state government, and he only used the opportunity to visit scenes of the attacks that happened recently in Owerri, as a concerned and empathic leader.
“It is interesting to also note that the VP and the former police boss never met in Owerri, as the former IGP was already on his way back to Abuja when the VP’s aircraft was about to touch down and every other flight was put on hold, including that of the former IGP, for the presidential jet to be cleared first. The former IGP was in Imo state, but he didn’t go there with the VP,” the source said.
For those who said the VP had been isolated from the happenings in government, the source said: “It is good to note that, the VP is still overseeing the 2.3 trillion naira Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP), as chairman of the Economic Sustainability Committee (ESC), which was charged with the task of pulling Nigeria out of the recession occasioned by the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic; an assignment that had already produced tangible and measurable result by bringing the country out of recession even faster than stronger economies affected by the same pandemic.
“Recall also that the VP was the same person who summoned the immediate past IGP before President Buhari over #EndSARS and didn’t stop there but also ensured that at least 30 states in Nigeria set up judicial panels of inquiry to investigate allegations of police brutality and compensate victims accordingly.
“A Vice President who chairs the Nation’s Economic Council (NEC) and has been playing an active role in the social investment programmes of the Buhari administration, which has been confirmed to be the most ambitious social investment programmes in Africa, however, cannot be said to be relegated, sleepy or sidelined.”
