…bans family members from attending FEC
President Bola Tinubu on Monday, expressed absolute confidence in the integrity of his Chief of Staff (CoS), Femi Gbajabiamila, insisting that he will no longer tolerate campaigns of calumny but take responsibility on all of his government’s actions and inactions.
The President declared this shortly
before the commencement of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The office of tbe CoS to the President of Nigeria is a high-ranking official who manages the Office of the President and was created by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999. It is modelled after the White House Chief of Staff and its duties are assigned by the President but primarily focused on managing the flow of information and people; advising the president on various issues.
The office is considered very powerful and influential given functions of its holder.
President Tinubu who spoke at the council meeting In a voice sounding as the Commander-in-Chief said, “first of all, let me reiterate to all of you the fact that a lot of stories are going around about what is happening. I’ve told everyone in this country that I can make mistakes, they’re bound to air them out and correct them.
“Perfection is that of God almighty. I have absolute confidence on the integrity of my Chief of Staff. All campaigns of calumny and insinuations should stop, the buck stops here.
“If I make mistake I’m ready to own up to it and we’re all joining hands to fight corruption and we want to enforce the law along with you”, President Tinubu said.
“Again, last week I noticed the undue access of people sneaking in and out of this Council…, including, I saw the photograph of my son, Seyi, sitting behind the cubicle there. That is not acceptable.
“I will announce to you those people who are supposed to be here with my content; Hadiza Bala Usman, SA Policy; Bayo Onanuga, Information and Strategy; Hakeem Muri-Okunola, Principal Private Secretary; and Damilotun Aderemi, Private Secretary.
“Those are people who are granted exception to be here when we’re conducting the business of the nation. Unless I send for you, don’t come, make it clear. Secretary to the Government and Head of Service, please take note. Unless you’re staff that are included, no one is privileged to have access sitting in this (Council Chambers), except those four that I’ve announced to you,” he added.
President Tinubu continued that “let me also say that the planning of events about the government must be well articulated and followed. Any comment or talking point of the President, or speeches, must be ready in advance. If it affects your ministry or not, if you have things to add, when we have events, make it available as quickly as possible, if the SGF is not around, make it available to the Chief of Staff.
“My speeches must, when in draft, must at least be made available to me in advance so that I can have my input accordingly.
“Yesterday, we had a very good showing and I thank all of you for sparing your Sunday to attend to national event. The visit of the Chancellor of the Republic of Germany was to me a success. We needed more time, but we were able to cover a lot of ground and must take our reforms seriously, the investors are interested in us.
“We must think inquisitively to see how we can improve, access the opportunity. There’s a lot of competition around in African continent and there’s a lot of competition around Europe as well. But there’s opportunity, even though you’re struggling to get support for Nigeria, we are determined to transform the economic landscape of this country and like I said, investors and investment are cowardly, they don’t follow conflicts. Think outside the box, how we can do things better. To that end, I declare the meeting opened, Tinubu said.
