Nigeria being run as a Banana Republic, Yoruba group claims
- Nigeria has been described as being run as a Banana republic
- The claim was raised by the Yoruba World Congress
- According to the group, it is wrong for top government functionaries to go through the chief of staff before seeing the president
Yoruba World Congress (YWC ), an umbrella body of all Socio-cultural and Self-determination groups has claimed that Nigeria, under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, is being run as a Banana republic.
The group disclosed this following the death chief of staff to President Muhammad Buhari, Abba Kyari and the eulogy on the late Kyari by Garba Shehu.
The group asked Nigerians to take note of the final statements of Garba Shehu in the 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," the group said in statement made available to Legit.ng.
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that minister of foreign affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama revealed that the late chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari Abba Kyari, was his ‘best man’ when he wedded.
According to the minister, apart from the fact that the wedding took place in the Anglican church, the late Kyari was also the godfather to his first son during his baptism.
He disclosed this in his tribute to Kyari which published on This Day newspaper on Sunday, April 19.
The minister said he first met the late politician in 1977 in 1977 at Warwick University in England.
He wrote: “When I left Warwick University for Cambridge, Abba came to Cambridge to introduce me to his friends there as he had studied in the city for his Advanced levels.
“After graduating from Warwick University, Abba went up to Cambridge to study law. We kept in touch throughout the last 43 years. We ended up together in Lagos in 1982 to attend Law School for a year.
“When I left Nigeria in 1985 to work in Geneva for 30 years Abba came to Geneva often to stay with me and whenever I was in Nigeria, he made it a point of coming to see me wherever I was.
“When I got married in Owo to my wife from Idoani, Ondo State, Abba was my Best-Man. The officiating Vicar was somewhat perplexed because I was a Roman Catholic Igbo, marrying an Anglican Yoruba in an Anglican church with a Muslim Kanuri/Shuwa Arab Best-Man from Borno state!
“The officiating Catholic priest in Geneva, Switzerland, two years later, during the baptism of our first son, was equally perplexed when a Muslim Abba Kyari and a muslim Muni Attah-Sonibare were the Godfather and Godmother respectively!
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Source: Legit.ng