It said the reason for the cancellation was not for fear that the embattled Senate President Bukola Saraki may become the acting President in his stead.
The presidency was reacting to a recent online report that Osinbajo’s planned trip was quashed when it was discovered that President Muhammadu Buhari would also be out of the country at the time.
The report had claimed that the Vice-President’s trip was called off in order to ensure that Saraki, who is number three in the country, did not assume the role of acting president.
Reacting to the report, Laolu Akande, the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on media and publicity, told journalists that there was no truth in the report that the Indian trip was cancelled.
He noted that if he had embarked on the trip, the Vice-President would have returned to Nigeria latest by Wednesday, stating that Buhari, who is travelling to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, is scheduled to return on Tuesday.
“If the President is travelling on Monday and will return on Tuesday, how many hours are you expecting Saraki to begin to wield the powers of a President?” he said.
Akande said, “Nigeria has been invited to the Indian/African Summit and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment will be leading a delegation to the event.
“There is nothing like cancellation. Remember that the visit of the Vice-President to any country is not treated in secrecy.
“Whenever the Vice-President is to travel out of the country, we inform Nigerians. So, this story in question is a bunch of speculation. There is no cancellation.”
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