Various news media ranging from punchng.com, thecable.ng, vanguardngr.com, amongst others have concluded that a short video with the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, the Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, means they were having an argument on the leaked memo on Abdulrasheed Maina, even when there was no audio to back up this claim.
Meanwhile, the Presidency has cleared the air, as they have maintained that there is no rift between Abba Kyari and Winifred Oyo-Ita.
The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Garba Shehu, said it was impossible for the conversation between Kyari and Oyo-Ita to have been heard by any journalist.
“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”.
He stated that the distance between Journalists and the two Government officials as they addressed the Vice President made their conversation completely inaudible to journalists.
Shehu dismissed the claim that the two Government officials had been summoned by the President over the debate between them.
“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”.
He pointed out that he was also a journalist, adding that in journalism, reports should be based on facts heard or directly observed or from an authoritative eyewitness.