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Rumor has it that Atiku has been making Obasanjo feel small even though Obasanjo has the title of president. It looks like the Atiku/Obasanjo rift is coming into the open. Is Obasanjo showing inferiority complex?
quote:Daily Independent Online. * Wednesday, October 08, 2003.
Atiku drops ‘His Excellency’ for Mr. Vice-President
By Adetutu Folasade-Koyi
Daily Independent, Abuja
In a bid to mend cracks within the Presidency, Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has indicated his decision to drop the 'His Excellency' title, choosing instead to be addressed as 'Mr. Vice-President’. He warned his aides not to cause division between him and President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Besides, the Vice-President was said to have advised them to avoid anything that would create any form of cracks in the relationship between his office and that of Obasanjo, insisting that the Presidency is one, with the president as the boss.
At a meeting with his principal aides at the Villa, Atiku was said to have indicated his preference to be addressed as Mr. Vice-President.
Explaining the rationale for dropping the epithet, Atiku said it was the norm in the presidential system of government not to address either the President or Vice-President as His or Your Excellency.
He was said to have told them that he and the President were determined to rid government of flamboyance and waste.
" We have had so much of that (cracks) in the last dispensation. We are not going to have that again," Atiku was quoted as saying.
The meeting, it was reliably gathered, was called to explain to the principal officers the new doctrine of re-orientation in the Presidency and which applies to all staff.
Atiku was said to have told them that the new orientation included cutting down the cost of doing business and being " prepared to do with minimal number of staff on my entourage when it comes to journeys".
The Vice-President’s Special Assistant on Media Affairs, Mallam Garba Shehu, confirmed that there was a meeting between Atiku and his principal officers where decision on the new title was reached.
Shehu also confirmed that the Vice-President told them that they were holding their appointments at the pleasure of the President and as such should see the President as the sole appointing authority.
Posts: 94 | From: Richmond, VA | Registered: Jun 2001
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quote: President Olusegun Obasanjo (L) and Vice President Atiku Abubakar (R) decorating Maj. Gen. Julius Oshanupin, Commander, Brigade of Guard with his new rank in Abuja... yesterday. - Thisday 12/15/05
Is there anything somewhere that says obasanjo must always have this awusa man next to him on every occasion? See, part of the problem obasanjo created for himself is allowing this VP to be on hand for every and any occasion. He should be relegated to the full background for him to get it in his head that his office is ceremonial. Only to be seen when called upon, which shouldn't be much, damn it!
___________________ BIAFRA: The land of my ancestors now, yesterday and always. So it will be! Posts: 2482 | From: Ala Igbo | Registered: Apr 2004
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