*chief-of-staff links predicament to 2027 Lagos guber race
Chief-of-Staff to the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Rt. Hon Femi Gbjabiamila have been effectively submerged by the political hurricane within the Aso Rock presidential villa, The Verge can report.
Sources familiar with the power game within the presidency hinted that, although, Gbajabiamila still performs his regular functions as chief-of-staff, his influence around the president seem to have been significantly diminished.
Gbajabiamila who is the immediate past speaker of the House of Representatives had wielded considerable influence in the early days of the Bola Tinubu’s administration. However, he might have been declared ‘persona non grata’ by his boss and political godfather, as the principal private secretary to the president, Hakeem Muri-Okunola and the chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Finance, James Faleke now deliver sensitive duties for the president.
Tinubu
The Verge source further disclosed that sensitive letters to major ministries, agencies and departments of government are now signed by Muri-Okunola.
He further hinted that Gbajabiamila had made frantic efforts to regain confidence of the president but all proved abortive. The chief-of- staff had also sought intervention of those who could have ears of the president, including a prominent serving minister from the South-south region and a presiding officer in the National Assembly.
“This is no longer news, the chief-of-staff to the president, Gbajabiamila is just there as a regular person, no one reckons with him when it comes to sensitive issues, I am not even sure that he still has access to the president’s residence, at least, not the direct and unfettered access that he used to enjoy,” the source stated.
When pointedly asked about what was responsible for the situation, the source said, “I don’t know which of his sins the president is critical about, but he committed a few errors, you can ask around to confirm if what I am telling you is true or not.”
Muri-Okunola
Although the reasons behind Tinubu’s cold action towards Gbajabiamila remains personal and unknown to many, The Verge gathered that the former speaker might have overplayed his hands on some appointment scheming, which turned around to embarrass the president.
Another source within the Lagos State political circle explained that, although President Tinubu is in firm control of his government, power brokers around the president were not comfortable with Gbajabiamila as the rallying point. These power brokers, according to the Lagos source, leveraged of his few mistakes to mount pressure on the president.
For instance, the source explained that President Tinubu favored appointment of a certain candidate from Oyo State for a highly placed judiciary position, while Gbajabiamila presented a different candidate from Lagos State for the same position. The leadership of the judicial arm of government had to contact the president directly for a confirmation.
Faleke
In the same vein, The Verge gathered that President Tinubu had pledged to reserve a certain highly placed position in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for a candidate presented by the former governor of Delta State, James Ibori. However, Gbajabiamila favored a different candidate for the same position.
According to The Verge source, Ibori, who was disappointed with the development, reached out to the pioneer interim chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, to express his displeasure, before the matter was eventually resolved.
“You know the president loves to keep to his words. He felt really embarrassed about the NDDC saga. I think at that point he directed the who-is-who around him to relate directly with his principal private secretary,” he said.
Although, despite allegations of underhand deals levied against Gbajabiamila in the early months of the Tinubu administration, the president had in October 2023 declared that he had implicit confidence is his chief-of-staff.
Nevertheless, the villa source said, “Yes, the president publicly expressed implicit confidence in Gbajabiamila when some allegations were brought to his attention, yet all has not been well afterwards. The president even rejected a lift of some federal government appointments from Gbajabiamila’s office and directed Faleke to compile a fresh list,” the source added.
Meanwhile, the chief-of-staff, Gbajabiamila, opened up on his predicaments in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, noting that it was all part of bad politics by his detractors to deter him from becoming the governor or Lagos State, come 2027.
Gbajabiamila also noted that his political detractors are envious of his chronological political progression.
Gbajabiamila, who spoke on his struggles at the presidential villa during a recent meeting with his supporters at his Surulere Constituency, said his enemies were in two major categories.
Gbajabiamila
In a video clip obtained by The Verge, Gbajabiamila who spoke in Yoruba Language, said, “They are in different categories, the first is the category of those who wanted to become chief-of-staff and did not succeed and they are still hanging around with the determination to become the chief- of-staff, this category is on one side.
“There is another category, and this category is the most wicked. They are people viewing me through a historical lens since 2003. They are rattled by the sequence of my political progression, that I returned from the United States of America and immediately I chased the lawmaker representing Surulere 1 and won election to the House of Representatives, not long after, about 3 to 4 years, I became a principal officer (Minority Whip) from minority whip to minority leader, to majority leader and eventually became the Speaker. They had thought that having been a speaker, that would be the end for me, but before they knew it, I became the chief-of-staff. Therefore, they felt that allowing me to go through the curves successfully would equip me to become the next governor of Lagos State.
“Do not misunderstand me, I didn’t say I have joined the race to become the governor, what I am saying is that, these people’s thinking is to bring me down before I get too comfortable and start thinking of running for governorship. They do not want me to have any chance in Lagos,” Gbajabiamila said in the video clip.
