Laolu Akande, former media aide to ex-Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has dismissed allegations made against his former principal by ex-Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal.
According to the former media aide, the claims were mere fabrications and insisted that the records of the Muhammadu Buhari administration contradict the claims.
Akande, who served as Osinbajo’s spokesperson during the eight-year administration of former President Buhari, said he was responding to Lawal’s allegations because he was directly involved in several of the decisions and processes being questioned.
In a statement titled “A Response to Mr. Babachir Lawal’s Falsehoods Against Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON,” the former presidential aide said the claims required a response because he witnessed many of the events and was part of the office whose staff appointments had been called into question.
“I have watched the video in which former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal, made a string of allegations against former Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN. Ordinarily, such fabrications would not deserve a response,” Akande said.
“But I served as the Vice President’s spokesperson. I was in the room where many of these decisions were taken. And the allegations touch directly on the staff of the Office of the Vice President — of which I was a part. For the sake of the record, facts only must be stated,” he added.
One of the major issues addressed by Akande was Lawal’s claim that Buhari considered Osinbajo’s decision to contest the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket in 2022 immoral.
Akande rejected the allegation, saying Buhari had personally offered to support Osinbajo’s presidential ambition on several occasions.
According to him, the former president expressed his willingness to support the then vice president at least four times, asking, “If I don’t support you, who will I support?”
Akande also recalled that Buhari publicly commended Osinbajo’s presidential campaign during a Federal Executive Council meeting in 2022.
He said the former president praised the manner in which Osinbajo conducted his campaign, describing it as dignified and focused on issues.
Akande argued that Buhari’s reported remarks and conduct contradicted the allegation that the former president considered Osinbajo’s presidential ambition inappropriate.
“That is not a President who found Osinbajo’s ambition distasteful. That is a President who broached it, encouraged and applauded it,” he said.
The former presidential aide also challenged Lawal’s account of an alleged memo containing the names of more than 20 people Osinbajo wanted appointed to the Office of the Vice President.
Lawal had claimed that the memo was withheld by Buhari’s then Chief of Staff before he eventually took it to the former president, who reportedly questioned the ethnic composition of the proposed staff.
Akande described the account as false, insisting that no such memo existed.
“Mr. Lawal’s claim that Osinbajo wrote a memo containing over 20 staff names, which was sat on by the President’s Chief of Staff, and which he, Mr. Lawal, then took to President Buhari, is a complete fabrication. There was no such memo,” he said.
He also disputed the suggestion that Buhari had complained about the ethnic composition of the proposed staff, arguing that the alleged remark attributed to the former president did not reflect his conduct.
Akande explained that Osinbajo had direct access to Buhari and routinely submitted memos to him for approval. Once approved, the documents were passed to the appropriate officials and agencies for implementation.
He said the process did not require the SGF’s involvement except for the subsequent issuance of appointment letters to staff members.
According to Akande, the appointments made in 2015 were handled through separate memos submitted at different times as the Office of the Vice President was being established and government policies evolved.
He also rejected Lawal’s claim that the appointments had been delayed for three months, saying he and several other staff members resumed work in June 2015.
“Mr. Lawal’s timeline also collapses. He claimed the memo was delayed for three months. I resumed in the Office of the Vice President in June 2015, alongside several other colleagues. So did many of those whose names he now invents. There was no three-month delay,” Akande said.
He maintained that there was never a single list of appointments designed along religious or ethnic lines, describing Lawal’s account as inconsistent with what happened during the establishment of the office.
Akande further rejected the allegation that Osinbajo primarily appointed people because they belonged to the same church as the former vice president.
He said the Office of the Vice President included Nigerians from different religious and ethnic backgrounds, arguing that its composition reflected an inclusive approach rather than a religious agenda.
As an example, Akande identified Ade Ipaye, a Muslim and lawyer, as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, describing him as the most senior official in the office.
He also mentioned former Special Advisers Maryam Uwais and Ahmad Zakari, both Muslims, as examples of officials who served in Osinbajo’s office.
Akande said these appointments contradicted the claim that Osinbajo used his position to favour members of his church.
The former aide also disputed Lawal’s claim that Osinbajo influenced the appointment of Dr Okey Enelamah as a minister because of their association with the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).
According to Akande, Enelamah’s nomination was proposed by two individuals in the financial services industry, given his experience as the former head of a major African private equity firm.
He added that Buhari’s then Chief of Staff, the late Abba Kyari, informed Osinbajo of the president’s decision to appoint Enelamah.
Akande also addressed appointments to government boards made while Osinbajo served as Acting President during Buhari’s absence from the country.
He explained that changes were made to some nominees to ensure compliance with legal requirements, including federal character considerations, age limits, qualifications and professional standards.
According to him, Buhari was briefed on the changes after returning to Nigeria and did not object to the corrections.
The exchange comes amid renewed scrutiny of events surrounding Lawal’s removal as SGF during the Buhari administration.
Lawal was suspended in 2017 following allegations connected to the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) and the handling of funds meant for humanitarian interventions. The controversy became widely known as the grass-cutting scandal.
Buhari had constituted a three-member investigative panel chaired by Osinbajo, with the then Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and National Security Adviser Babagana Monguno as members, to examine the allegations against Lawal.
The panel’s findings implicated Lawal, who was subsequently removed from office by Buhari.
In his response, Akande suggested that Lawal’s allegations against Osinbajo might be connected to lingering grievances over his removal from office. He argued that personal disagreements should not be used to distort the record of the former vice president’s service under Buhari.
Akande maintained that Osinbajo served the former president loyally for eight years and ran an office that accommodated Nigerians from different parts of the country and religious backgrounds.
He insisted that the records of the administration could be examined to establish the facts surrounding the disputed appointments and other decisions.