Contrary to reports, the Presidency did not cancel the scheduled trip of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to India for an international conference on Trade, just as “protocol error” has been ruled out of reason he stayed back, a top government official who doesn’t want his name in print told newsmen in Abuja over the weekend.
According to him, Osinbajo stayed back from the Indian trip in agreement with President Muhammadu Buhari and in line with the requirement of the constitution, which forbids both the president and his deputy from leaving the shores of Nigeria at the same time.
While the Vice President stayed back, a contingent of government officials who were to attend the Conference in India had proceeded on the trip.
The contingent was led by the Minister of Trade and Investments.
The source said the Vice President’s trip to India had long been scheduled, while that of President Buhari, which was fixed of late, fell on the same date with that of Osinbajo, leaving him with no choice but to stay back.
The government official said there was never a time when both the President and the Vice President left Nigeria at the same time and that such development would not have occurred now.
He said reports that Osinbajo was stopped from travelling to India because of “security error” and the need to prevent the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, from presiding over the affairs of Nigeria was incorrect as such had exposed the authors as being ignorant of processes in governance and the dictates of the constitution on schedules of the President and Vice President.
He said the President and the Vice President were not allowed by law to be absent from the seat of government at the same time, adding: “It is then naturally out of place for anyone to think that the Senate President will ever have the chance of being called in to act as President.”
The trip by President Buhari to Equatorial Guinea he said was long overdue and he needed to make the trip now to intensify consultations on security against piracy in West Africa, more so that Nigeria has started making progress in its war against terrorism.
Buhari’s state visit to Equatorial Guinea, according to report, is very strategic, bothering essentially on the need enhance maritime security in the west African Sub-region, just as Equatorial Guinea is considered a nexus in the Gulf of Guinea.
He said Buhari was scheduled to hold talks and sign bilateral agreements with other Nigerian neighbours of Cameroon, Chad and Niger on joint fight against terrorism.
President Buhari, he said, had already visited key West African countries while consulting with leaders on setting up of joint military action against terrorism.
The government official alluded to a cordial relationship between President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo on managing the affairs of government, in which case he said both leaders often compared notes on crucial matters of governance to take concrete decisions.
He said the mutual trust between the two leaders was the reason President Buhari not long ago transmitted a letter to his deputy to act as President, when he was to embark on a five-day break in the United Kingdom.
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