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Mixed reactions have trailed President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that all meeting requests by his Ministers should be channelled through Abba Kyari, his Chief of Staff.
Buhari had on Tuesday while speaking at the close of the presidential retreat for ministers-designate in Abuja sad that all Federal Executive Council (FEC) matters should be channelled to him through Kyari.
The president’s decision did not, however, come as a total surprise to many observers.
During Buhari’s first tenure, there were unconfirmed reports that Kyari wielded enormous powers, including determining who had access to the President.
But speaking in separate interviews with BusinessDay, Thursday, some political observers said the President’s directive may have been informed by an attempt to be more proactive and guided on issues.
However, the directive was also criticised by some observers, who said the directive confirmed reports that Kyary was indeed wielding a lot of influence in Aso Rock.
National chairman of the Advance Democratic Party (ADP), Sanni Yabagi said President Buhari had the prerogative to run his administration in the best way suited to him, stressing that the President may be more comfortable in taking brief from the Chief of Staff who may remind him on issues when necessary.
Yabagi, who was a presidential candidate of the ADP in the 2019 election, however, doubted if the directive may affect governance, stressing that every administration had its own style.
According to him, “The President has the prerogative to choose who to work with. I don’t have a problem with him asking the Ministers to report to Kyari; it is just a matter of stating the obvious.
“To me it is not particularly wrong, Kyari may be able to streamline interaction with the President and relate issues to him properly.
“I don’t think it would affect governance. Past Presidents equally had Chiefs of Staff and they were powerful. Obasanjo for example had one.”
However, this view was disputed by the Publicity Secretary of pan-Yoruba socio -political organisation, Yinka Odumakin, who faulted the President’s directive, stressing that it was unconstitutional.
Odumakin added that the he did not expect anything new in the assignment of portfolios to the ministers, while adding that the President had failed since he assumed office in 2015.
According to him, “The directive is unconstitutional, even the Vice President has to report to him. What we have been hearing in the last few years is now official. Am not aware of one project they have done and executed since they came on board some years ago, I can tell you that such directive would affect governance.”
However, Moshood Salvador, A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), knocked those opposed to the President’s decision, saying that such a decision may have been informed by the need of the President to be more proactive in decision making.
“The president knows his shortcoming and that may have informed such decision. He knows that Kyari is versed and such a decision may be so that Kyari can remind him on issues. Buhari is no more a young man.
“Who are the people criticising what the president did? These Ministers are administrators and they would also be trained. You can study history and still be a god administrator, they have civil servants to guide them,” Salvador said.
Kyari is regarded as the most powerful individual in the Buhari administration, but despite opposition in several quarters, including street protests believed to have been orchestrated against him, he was reappointed in July by the President.
Iniobong Iwok
