President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo/State House

The Presidency has denied claims that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had been sidelined after President Muhammadu Buhari constituted an Economic Advisory Council to replace the Economic Management Team.

Concise News reports that while the management team was headed by Osinbajo, the newly constituted advisory council will report directly to President Buhari.

Dismissing the claims, the president’s Media Aide, Femi Adesina, on Wednesday in an interview on Channels TV, said that all that the president has done particularly this week was just to “tweak governance and get the best for Nigerians”.

He also maintained that the presidency remains one and that there’s been too much suspicion and different kinds of inferences which he believes are only aimed at driving a wedge between both the president and the vice-president.

Adesina added that the team hitherto led by Osinbajo was dissolved “for good reasons” and also for “better management.”

He said: “The Vice President is the number 2 man in the country… the new economic advisory body can also relate with the Vice President as necessary.

“It’s just some Nigerians who want to drive a wedge between the President and the VP, that read meanings into everything and insinuate but there’s no need for that.”

“Governance continues and the Presidency remains one. And this Presidency just wants to do what’s best for Nigeria.

“But, unfortunately, our country is one in which even if a 100-year-old man dies, people will still want to find out what killed him.

“In Nigeria, there are too many inferences from things that are just normal and natural; things that are designed to accelerate governance and ensure there is probity and accountability.

“All that President Buhari has done, particularly this week, is just to tweak governance and get the best for Nigerians,” Adesina added.