Osinbajo Got Buhari’s Consent to Dismiss Daura, Says Presidency

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo got the consent of President Muhammadu Buhari to dismiss the former Director-General of the State Security Services (SSS), Mr. Lawal Daura, the presidency said wednesday.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, disclosed this while answering questions from journalists at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in the State House, and said the presidency was one, hence a decision of that magnitude would not have been taken without a sense of unanimity between the president and his deputy.

According to him, the acting president is a decent man who is not obsessed with power, pointing out that there was no battle between them and that accounts for the reason the president always transmits power to Osinbajo whenever he’s leaving the country.

Adesina said, “What we will like to say for the umpteenth time is that the presidency is one. Whenever the president is proceeding on vacation he transmits power to the vice president, who then becomes the acting president. On this occasion he also did that.

“So, the acting president has all the powers of a president. Now it’s a matter then of decency and we know that the acting president is a decent man. There is no tussle for power. There is no battle between him and the president.

“When something like what happened yesterday would happen, there would be unanimity. There was no way there wouldn’t be unanimity on that kind of decision. It’s not something that will be discussed with the press but know that there was unanimity in the decision.”

Osinbajo had on Tuesday ordered the immediate dismissal of Daura and consequently directed him to hand over to the most senior officer of the DSS following his unilateral decision to deploy DSS operatives to the National Assembly without authorisation.

Masked DSS operatives armed to the teeth had taken over the two gates of the National Assembly at the dawn of Tuesday, preventing senators and staff of the National Assembly as well as journalists from gaining entry into the premises of the apex legislative institution.

Following Daura’s sack, Matthew Seiyefa, an indigene of Bayelsa State and a former Director of the Institute of Security Studies, Abuja was appointed as the Acting Director-General of the Service.

Until his appointment, Seiyefa was the most senior director in the DSS.

Meanwhile, Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki yesterday said the National Assembly was ready to reconvene to discuss any urgent matter of national importance even as he dismissed claim that it was frustrating the passage of the budget of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) expected to be used to organise the 2019 general election.

He said the claim was not true, adding that the delay in consideration and probable approval of the commission’s election budget was caused by both the executive and INEC that didn’t submit the request in good time before the parliament proceeded on its long recess in July.

Saraki, who addressed a world press conference along with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, however, assured Nigerians that the legislature was ready to attend to the needs of INEC as well as other urgent national matters even it demands to reconvene its members.

According to him,”On that day after we adjourned, we realised that the electoral bill had not been passed and 

electoral bill and passed it and that was the only issue pending before us for elections.

“The issue of INEC request is amazing and nobody is asking; was it the day we were leaving that INEC realised they had a project?

“They had January, February, April, May and June; nothing from the executive to say we need money for INEC, until July when we were leaving.

“But we are ready to support the executive at all times and I will let something out: since we’ve gone on recess even before this problem, both myself and the Speaker have met with the chairman of INEC to tell us what are the issues and this conversation had been going on.”

Saraki said, “So, we’ll do all that’s necessary. As I said, if it means us coming back because we’ve not even 

“But we are ready to support the executive at all times and I will let something out: since we’ve gone on recess even before this problem, both myself and the Speaker have met with the chairman of INEC to tell us what are the issues and this conversation had been going on.”

Saraki said, “So, we’ll do all that’s necessary. As I said, if it means us coming back because we’ve not even 

committed it to committee, it just came as a letter, which was read on the floor, it still has to go to the committee…and that was our plan yesterday but the situation was not conducive for us to hold the meeting.

“Even now as we were walking in here, we’ve already sent for the INEC chairman to come so that the meeting we didn’t hold yesterday, let’s hold it immediately now.

“If there’s need for us to reconvene so we can send it to committee, we will do that…The executive knew there was going to be an election, why didn’t they include it in the 2018 budget?

“Okay, after you submitted the 2018 budget, you had December, January February, March, April, May, June…So to say it’s the National Assembly does not want election is not true.

“I want to reassure you on that and any other matter that is important and needs to be addressed, we’ll do it.”

The Senate president also charged President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the electoral amendment bill, which had been passed by both chambers of the National Assembly and transmitted to him in order to ensure the success of next year’s elections.

He said, “If you remember, the first electoral bill we sent to the president, we’d the issue of change in the sequence of election and we had about three other issues.

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