Sojworldnews | Politics

Babachir Lawal Explains Why Buhari Never Fully Backed Osinbajo in 2022

Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has offered a personal explanation for why former President Muhammadu Buhari never fully backed his then vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, as his successor. In an interview on Symfoni, Lawal said Buhari valued loyalty above political convenience. Moreover, he claimed Buhari quietly worried about the way Osinbajo handled appointments. Lawal made these claims himself, and he spoke only for himself.

The host opened with a pointed question. Osinbajo had acted as president while Buhari was unwell, the host recalled, and he had sacked some of Buhari’s employees. Could those actions explain why Buhari neither anointed nor fully backed his deputy? After all, the host argued, the natural move was for Buhari to protect his legacy by supporting the man who could continue it. Lawal gave a different answer.

He pointed instead to Buhari’s character. Lawal said he knows the former president well, and he described him as a man who “believes in loyalty” and judges issues with “high morality.” He also admitted that many people doubt him because of his closeness to Buhari. Nevertheless, he insisted that Buhari discussed this very matter with him in private.

According to Lawal, Buhari would find it “very highly immoral” for Osinbajo to run against Bola Tinubu. The former president knew the history between the two men, Lawal explained. Tinubu had recommended Osinbajo for the job, and Tinubu wanted the presidency for himself. Therefore, Lawal argued, Buhari would find the contest distasteful even if he believed Osinbajo could make a better president.

“He would find it very highly immoral for Osinbajo to contest the same position with Bola Tinubu.”Babachir Lawal, on Symfoni

Lawal then recalled a tense episode from the start of the administration, and he used it to show Buhari’s early doubts. At that time, Osinbajo sent Buhari a memo that asked for approval of his personal staff. The list carried about 28 names, Lawal said, although he admitted he could not remember the exact number. He added that officials had vetted the names first.

For three months, the memo sat without approval. Meanwhile, rumours spread that nearly all the names were Yoruba and that all of them came from Osinbajo’s church. Lawal said the late Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, refused to forward the memo, yet people still gossiped about its contents. Lawal worked outside the Villa at the time, but the rumours eventually reached him.

Lawal then took action. He asked the Chief of Staff for the memo, and Kyari refused at first. Lawal demanded a photocopy, and Kyari handed one over. Lawal carried it straight to Buhari and pointed out the date. Buhari had heard the rumours, Lawal said, but he had never received the memo. He took the letter, read it and began ticking names with a green biro.

Buhari ticked about 26 of the names, Lawal recalled, and then made his own judgment. “These are all Yorubas,” he said, according to Lawal. Lawal stepped in as peacemaker. He told Buhari that Osinbajo was new and had just come from Lagos. He pleaded with the president to approve the list, and Buhari agreed. Lawal then told the Chief of Staff to read the names for himself and blamed the episode on lack of experience.

Even so, Lawal said Buhari did not forget. According to him, Buhari knew that many of Osinbajo’s appointees came from his church, and Buhari felt unhappy about it. Lawal cited several examples. He said successive leaders of the church where Osinbajo served as a pastor received government appointments. He also mentioned an agency appointee whom he described as a junior officer before the promotion.

Pressure came from outside the Villa as well. Lawal claimed that some traditional church leaders in the north went to Buhari and complained about the appointments. They too were Christians, they argued, and they had voted for him. Buhari rarely raised these matters, Lawal said. He mentioned them only when the two men sat together in a good mood.

Lawal admitted that Buhari never told him directly why he held back. However, he said Buhari’s actions and body language gave him away. “From his actions and his body language, I could see that he was scared,” Lawal said. In his words, Buhari feared that if Osinbajo became president, “what Bola is doing, he will do.” Even so, Lawal said, Buhari “didn’t think it was decent” for Osinbajo to contest against Tinubu.

Taken together, Lawal’s account paints a picture of a president who valued loyalty, watched his deputy closely and kept his doubts to himself. However, these claims come from Lawal alone, and Sojworldnews has not independently verified them. Readers should weigh them as one man’s recollection of private conversations. In the end, the interview adds one more voice to the long debate over the 2022 APC contest and the relationship between three of Nigeria’s most powerful men.

Listen to the clip as shared on X:

Source: Babachir Lawal interview on Symfoni. Quotes are lightly edited from a transcript.