Kyari, Oyo-Ita in warm embrace after ‘leaked memo’ fiasco
November 08th, 2017
Abba Kyari, chief of staff to the president, and Winifred Oyo-Ita, head of service of the federation, exchanged fire at the federal executive council (FEC) meeting a week ago.
They have now exchanged handshakes, in fact a warm embrace, at the cabinet meeting.
It remains unclear what they argued about at the last meeting, a heated exchange that was captured on video and went viral.
Everybody’s guess is that it was over a memo indicting President Muhammadu Buhari in the recall of fugitive, Abdulrasheed Maina, who fled the country while under investigation for a pension fraud running into billions of naira.
The memo, addressed to the chief of staff, found its way into the media, and when Kyari and Oyo-Ita squared off thereafter at the cabinet meeting on November 1, it was safe to guess the drama, watched by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and Babagana Mungono, national security adviser, was over the leak.
Is the war is over?
On Wednesday morning, both combatants embraced warmly and smiled for the cameras at the council chambers of the presidential villa before the start of FEC meeting.
Kyari and Oyo-Ita regularly sit side by side at the meeting.
On entering the council chambers, Oyo-Ita went straight to Osinbajo and was all smiles and engaging in a discussion with him when Kyari came in.
In place of the fireworks of last week, they embraced to the delight of photographers who swooped on them.
FEC members also seemed pleased, as they clapped for them.
As if they had just tied the nuptial knots, congratulatory messages flowed from Osinbajo, Monguno, Jalal Arabi (state house permanent secretary) and Habiba Lawal (permanent secretary, ecological office) who stood in for the secretary to the government of the federation, Boss Muatapha.
Now that they have kissed and made up, how will the rest of Nigerians know what actually transpired the last time?
Or even the little matter of if Buhari was actually complicit in the recall of Maina?
Congratulations to Kyari and Oyo-Ita, all the same, on their special day.
TheCable