Vice President Osinbajo’s Trip To India Cancelled Due To Protocol Error,and Realization Saraki Would Be Acting President

Vice President of Nigeria,Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has made a last-minute cancelation of a trip to India owing to protocol blunders by the Protocol Department of the Presidency as well as a realization that Senate President Bukola Saraki would have had to act as President for a couple of days. Mr. Saraki is currently embroiled in a trial for corruption that he and his legal team are using all kinds of controversial maneuvers to beat.

“When the President and VP are out of town, the running of the country will fall automatically into the hands of the Senate President,” a Presidency official told SaharaReporters. He added, “We did not want the awkwardness that would come with that scenario.”

It was learned that a 27-member delegation, including the VP and two ministers, were scheduled to travel to India for a conference. But Mr. Osinbajo’s trip was shelved when the Presidency’s protocol team discovered at the last minute that President Muhammadu Buhari was also going to travel to Equatorial Guinea on Sunday for a state visit that is scheduled to start on Monday.
Mr. Osinbajo’s trip to India, which was billed to end on Wednesday, would have meant that Nigeria would for more than two days be without its first two citizens, leaving the reins of power in the hands of Senate President Saraki. A source close to the VP stated that the prospect of Mr. Saraki’s assumption of presidential powers could not be tolerated in view of the ethical clouds around the senate president. 

According to Sahara reporters, the VP Osinbajo had already sent his advance party to India, and had booked hotels and made arrangements for ground transportation, all at a cost of $250,000, before the cancelation of the trip on Saturday.

A source at the Presidency blamed the State Chief of Protocol (SCOP), Lawal Abdullahi Kazaure, as well as the protocol team for the near-blunder. “The president’s protocol chief, Malam Kazaure, and the protocol department again displayed great incompetence here,” a source at the Presidency fumed. “They ought to have caught the issue earlier before it cost Nigeria a huge sum of money,” he added.