Professor Banji Akintoye, left, and the late Abba Kyari

…demands end to running of Nigeria as a Banana Republic

The Yoruba World Congress has expressed its condolences over the death of Abba Kyari, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff. However, the group frowned at the power the man wielded so much that officials who are constitutionally empowered to function one way or the other were shoved aside.

This is contained in a press statement signed by Emeritus Professor (Senator Banji Akintoye), Leader/President of the group.

According to the Congress, it is outrageous and unacceptable that constitutionally provided for, and constitutionally appointed, office holders of the government of Nigeria should, under any circumstances, be subjected to the absurdity of having to go through the Chief of Staff to see the President.

“We are talking of high public officials such as Ministers, Ambassadors,  Top federal Career civil servants, State Governors, National Assembly members and, to our collective embarrassment, even the Vice-president.”

The group waved off a Chief of Staff as “no more than the head of the president’s kitchen cabinet, the president’s own personal collection of personal staff,  that has no superiority to the structural pillars established by the constitution of Nigeria.”

It went further: “Abba Kyari’s unconstitutional position as de facto president in recent times, coupled with an elected President who is periodically nowhere to be found, has seriously denuded the legitimacy of government in our country. It represents the ultimate manifestation of the seizure of government by a cabal belonging to a small section of our country, an unconstitutional seizure of government that is being effected and perpetuated by impunity, and by spiteful disregard of the respect due to the other sections and nationalities of our country who together constitute the majority in our country”

Below is the full text:

LATE ABBA KYARI HJACKED GOVERNMENT FROM CONSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURES, WE FIRMLY DEMAND IMMEDIATE END TO THE RUNNING OF NIGERIA AS A BANANA REPUBLIC

BY YORUBA WORLD CONGRESS

PROF. (SENATOR) BANJI AKINTOYE

LEADER/PRESIDENT-GENERAL, YORUBA WORLD CONGRESS

20-04-2020

Having listened carefully on television yesterday 18th April 2020 to the profuse eulogy on the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammad Buhari, Mr. Abba Kyari (may his soul rest in peace) by Mr. Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Mr. President, we of the Yoruba World Congress  (YWC ), an umbrella body of all Socio-cultural and Self-determination groups within and beyond Nigeria hereby draw the attention of all Nigerians to the final statements of Garba Shehu’s eulogy.

Garba Shehu said that the fact of Abba Kyari’s passage does not mean that there is a vacuum in the government of Nigeria; that though Abba Kyari had been away for one month before he died, yet the job of government had not stopped; that there is a structure in place to ensure continuity, even though it is the president’s eventual responsibility to decide who takes over from Abba Kyari.

Our position is that Nigeria is being run as a Banana Republic, a country in which the structure of government depends on the whims and caprices of the leader of the government, that this is outrageous and unacceptable, and that it should stop immediately. Nigeria is a fully constitutional republic in which the structure of government is laid down by the constitution. Therefore, it is outrageous and unacceptable that constitutionally provided for, and constitutionally appointed, office holders of the government of Nigeria should, under any circumstances, be subjected to the absurdity of having to go through the Chief of Staff to see the President. We are talking of high public officials such as Ministers, Ambassadors,  Top federal Career civil servants, State Governors, National Assembly members and, to our collective embarrassment, even the Vice-president. A Chief of Staff is no more than the head of the president’s kitchen cabinet, the president’s own personal collection of personal staff,  that has no superiority to the structural pillars established by the constitution of Nigeria.

Abba Kyari’s unconstitutional position as de facto president in recent times, coupled with an elected President who is periodically nowhere to be found, has seriously denuded the legitimacy of government in our country. It represents the ultimate manifestation of the seizure of government by a cabal belonging to a small section of our country, an unconstitutional seizure of government that is being effected and perpetuated by impunity, and by spiteful disregard of the respect due to the other sections and nationalities of our country who together constitute the majority in our country. We the majority of Nigerians have watched with shock and pain, and other nations of the world have been looking at us with total disbelief and pity, as our country has been run like the personal estate of a small cabal. We have a Vice President who has been boxed into a disrespectful corner simply because he does not belong to the self-appointed owners of our country.

SIGNED:

EMERITUS PROFESSOR (SENATOR) BANJI AKINTOYE

LEADER/PRESIDENT-GENERAL, YORUBA WORLD CONGRESS (YWC)

APRIL 20TH 2020-04-20

LAGOS, NIGERIA!

SENT OUT BY MR. MAXWELL ADEYEMI ADELEYE

DIRECTOR OF MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS

YORUBA WORLD CONGRESS (YWC)!