By BOLA BADMUS, Lagos

Following the death of Mallam Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff (CoS) to President Muhammadu Buhari, the Yoruba World Congress (YWC) on Monday demanded an immediate end to the running of Nigeria as a banana republic.

The congress described as outrageous and unacceptable, a situation where the structure of government depends on the whims and caprices of the leader of the government.

Leader/President-General of the group, Professor Banji Akintoye, made this demand in a signed statement entitled: “Late Abba Kyari hijacked government from constitutional structures, we firmly demand immediate end to the running of Nigeria as a Banana Republic.”

“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,” YWC Leader/President-General said.

Akintoye said YWC, an umbrella body of all sociocultural and self-determination groups within and beyond, made this demand based on what he termed, “profuse eulogy” on the late CoS by presidential media aide, Malam Garba Shehu, wherein he said that the fact of Kyari’s passage does not mean that there is a vacuum in the government of Nigeria and that the job of government had not stopped as there was a structure in place to ensure continuity.

Akintoye, while decrying the existing arrangement under which an appointed CoS would arrogate so much powers not backed by the constitution, declared that Nigeria is a fully constitutional republic in which the structure of government is laid down by the document.

According to him, it is outrageous and unacceptable that constitutionally provided for, and constitutionally appointed, office holders of the government of Nigeria, including vice president, governors, ministers, National Assembly members, among others should, under any circumstances, be subjected to the absurdity of having to go through the CoS to see the president.

“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 the president, we of the Yoruba World Congress (YWC), an umbrella body of all sociocultural 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,” Prof. Akintoye quoted Shehu as saying.

“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,” he affirmed. (Nigerian Tribune)

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