Some aides of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who were abruptly dismissed late last year have been recalled by the Presidency.
Daily Independent reports that the aides, instead of returning to their previous posts in the Presidential Villa, have been redeployed to various ministries where they were assigned new roles by the supervising ministers.
One of the affected Vice President Osinbajo aides who confirmed the development on Tuesday evening, February 25, said some of them were called back in December 2019 while some also got redeployed in January 2020.
“We have all been recalled but not to our former posts. We have all been redeployed to ministries and we will be reporting to the ministers. We are no longer under the Office of the Vice President. It is not what we expect but it is better than what happened before when our appointments were terminated abruptly.
“Some of us were recalled late last year while some of us got our letters in January this year. I have since returned to Abuja and resumed in my ministry.”
Another of the affected aides, who spoke in confidence, said it was not until when prominent and influential Nigerians weigh in on the matter that their dismissal was reversed.
She added that they had given up because the media did not do enough to help their case noting that the media only aggravated their predicament as it kept on harping on speculated acrimony between the vice president and the president.
“It was just divine because we have all lost hope. The media also did not help matters as they were reporting that there is a rift between the vice president and the president and he may resign or be impeached.
“But we thank God for his grace and the intervention of eminent Nigerians including our then-boss, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who really fought for us to be recalled. I have also resumed in a ministry”, she said.
The report said when Daily Independent contacted some ministries, some top officials confirmed that some of the affected aides are in the ministry. A top official in the Ministry of Information and Culture said, “Yes, some of them are with us here. They resumed in January this year”.
Another top official in the Ministry of Transport also confirmed that some of the affected aides were redeployed to the ministry.
The names of the affected aides are Ajibola Ajayi, daughter of former governor of Oyo State, Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi. She was appointed Special Assistant (Legal) to the President (VP’s Office) in August 2019. She was a former SA to the President on Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) (VP’s office), from October 2015 to May 2019.