Osinbajo VS Kyari: SSS withdraws access tags, blacklists sacked 35 aides of VP

Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, and Vice president Yemi Osinbajo (right) 

The State Security Service (SSS) has withdrawn access tags from about 35 aides of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who were reportedly sacked earlier this month.

The SSS started withdrawing the access tags from the aides on November 21. They also went further to blacklist some of them from future access into the Presidential Villa, according to multiple sources who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES.



Asenior presidency source under strict anonymity to avoid being rebuked for speaking to journalists without permission said, “They started withdrawing their tags last week Thursday (November 21) and by this Wednesday (November 27) they have withdrawn everyone’s tag,”.

“Effectively, they have taken away their official roles, they can no longer act in an official capacity.”

The official said some of the aides were blacklisted by the SSS even after their tags were withdrawn.




“What this means is that they can not even come to the Presidential Villa again even as visitors,” the official said.

The source insisted Mr Buhari did not authorise the dismissal of the aides, but the expectation that Osinbajo would be able to convince his boss Buhari to rescind the decision upon his return from London has been largely futile.

“The president did not authorise dismissal of the aides,” the source said. “He only authorised their redeployment to order agencies outside of the vice-president’s office.”


But Mr Kyari decided to issue letters dismissing the aides, and by the time the president returned, it was virtually too late to reverse the decision.

“The vice president has decided not to relate with Abba Kyari over the matter, but even his direct discussions with the president about the issue have been too slow and too difficult than we expected,” another official said