The Nigerian Presidency on Friday, November 3, denied an earlier report that a clash broke out between the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita and the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari. Recall that there were reports that Oyo-Ita confronted Kyari at the Wednesday, October 1 Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, over the leaked memo warning the president against Abdulrasheed Maina’s recall to service.
However, President Buhari’s senior special assistant on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, claimed that no such clash occurred and chastised the State House correspondents for ‘fabricating’ the report. Shehu said the discussion between Kyari and Oyo-Ita at the FEC could not have been heard by journalists in the hall and that the two could have been discussing anything else, Premium Times reports. He said:
“People can debate and argue over issues, but to suggest that there was a feud, a fight or a clash was to take matters beyond what they were.”
Shehu also said it was a total lie that the president summoned the two over any clash as both are senior officers and could see the president at any time. He said:
“Top government officials of that calibre see the President on a regular basis. To suggest that they were summoned to see him as a result of a so-called feud is just a fabrication, a conclusion that is below the level of responsible journalism that we expect from our State House correspondents.”