The Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church in Lagos, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has told Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, to leave, if he is not allowed to carry out his function.
Bakare, speaking to media mogul Dele Momodu in an Instagram Live chat on Tuesday, however insisted he did not believe reports that Osinbajo was being handicapped in office.
He called on the vice-president to come out publicly and clear the air.
Bakare said, “I don’t know if that statement is true that he is not allowed to perform. The constitution is very clear on the vice-president’s role, especially as it relates to steering the economy of the nation.
Bakare was the running mate to Muhammadu Buhari in the 2011 presidential election for the Congress for Progressive Change, losing to former President Goodluck Jonathan and Namadi Sambo of the Peoples Democratic Party.
According to Bakare, he asked Buhari for specific details about his own role when they were contesting then.
However, in 2015, when Buhari ran again, he chose Osinbajo as his running mate and won under the aegis of All Progressives Congress, following the merger of some political parties in order to strongly challenge the ruling Peoples Democratic Party at the time.
“Before I accepted General Muhammadu Buhari’s offer, I said what would be my role because I am not prepared to be a spare tyre and he said to me that my role would be as prescribed by the constitution and as many other things as you can be given to do.
“I want to hear it one day from the Vice-President that he is not allowed to perform. I don’t like rumours and I don’t like gossip. If he is not allowed to perform, I would wonder what he is still doing there because he is not allowed to perform.
“If he is content in his office and he is given responsibilities and he is discharging those responsibilities to the best of his ability, I do not believe the story that he is not allowed to perform. If that is true, let him say so and not other people saying he is not allowed to perform.
“There is a constitutional role for the Vice-President, it is spelt out in black and white. If he is not allowed to do that, then, what is he doing there? Because if I am enrolled as a teacher and I am not allowed to teach in that school, I will look for another school,” he said.
In the past, Buhari had been known to delegate power to his assistant anytime he was travelling out of the country for unofficial functions.
President Buhari when he travelled to London on a working leave on August 3, 2018, and returned on the 18th, spending a total of 16 days, handed over to Vice President Osinbajo.
It was widely believed that Osinbajo might have angered his boss and his political and family caucus by sacking the Director-General of the Department of State Services, Lawal Daura, during the time he was in charge of the affairs of the nation when President Buhari was away.
Since Daura’s sacking, the President has not deemed it fit to hand over power to Osinbajo again.
