*Former Lagos Governor joins attack over 2023 fears
A political group in Nigeria says there are fresh plots aimed at tarnishing the person of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo by some political actors from within the Presidency referred to as the cabal.
The Initiative to Save Democracy (ISD) says there is a calculated attempt by the cabal in collusion some South West leaders to peddle outright falsehood, fake news and lies against the Vice President.
In a press statement issued on Saturday and signed by the Peter Oladele, Secretary of ISD, the group said it has reliable information that the cabal will stop at nothing to distract the Vice President from doing his work.
The group said they are working tirelessly to malign the Vice President’s reputation and integrity after they could not find any wrongdoing evidence against him.
“The first thing they attempted to do was to destroy the relationship between the President and Vice President but that has not worked despite deploying different strategies from inside and outside.
“Then they tried to malign the Vice President’s reputation by throwing up all sorts of trump charges against him but with no evidence of wrongdoing that soon crumbled.
“They even referred to the N5.8 billion NEMA Emergency Intervention, the N90 billion FIRS Campaign Fund and other fake news but all those failed too because they were fake news from the beginning. They even went after those who have backed the Vice President,” the statement said.
ISD then explained that the cabal is cooking more fake news and lies against the VP and this time its in conjunction with South West leaders.
“In the coming days and week, there will be fake news and lies about the Vice President in the media and social media space yet again, most of it fabricated by the cabal and some people who claim to be South West leaders led by a former governor of Lagos who is afraid of VP’S rising profile.
“Their plan is to oust him in time before 2023 elections which is still very far away.
“The plan of the cabal is to ensure that they distract the Vice President every week with some fake news. What this will ultimately mean is that instead of him to focus on the work he is doing for Nigeria, he will be concerned about the fake news and lies.
The group said that the cabal is very angry at the President for showing off the cordial relationship he enjoys with the Vice President during the Independence Day celebration on 1 October.
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“Their renewed anger at the Vice President stemmed from the showing he enjoyed with his boss during the Independence Day celebration. The cabal said the two of them appeared to still enjoy a very healthy relationship as they were seen talking and laughing as something the President had said at different times.
“They will stop at nothing to make Prof. Osinbajo look bad in the eyes of President Muhammadu Buhari, his boss. They also don’t like the fact that he has restated his loyalty to serve Nigeria and serve his boss, these are some of the things getting them angry.”
The group said it is too early for the cabal to be scheming about 2023 when we are in 2019 with a lot of work to be done by the present administration. “I think they should leave politics for now and allow the President and Vice President concentrate on the work at hand.
“They were elected to deliver the dividends of democracy to Nigerians and they should be allowed to deliver their mandate instead of pushing politics into their faces. We urge Nigerians not to distract themselves with negative politics,” the group said.
