How cabal capitalized on Buhari’s weak moments to smuggled in memos – Gambari

Former Chief of Staff to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, has said that several top officials routinely bypassed him to deliver memos directly to President Buhari, despite explicit instructions mandating that all communications be routed through his office.

Gambari, who was appointed in May 2020 following the death of Abba Kyari, made the disclosure during an interview on Channels Television’s Inside Sources, aired on Friday.

According to him, although Buhari publicly directed that all official documents be submitted through the Chief of Staff, some members of his inner circle continued to exploit informal access to the President.

“They knew his weak moments. They knew when to smuggle memos because they interacted with him informally,” Gambari said.

He recalled Buhari’s statement upon his appointment: “When I came as Chief of Staff, the President said publicly that all memos must go through the Chief of Staff before coming to him.”

Gambari noted that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and several ministers adhered strictly to the directive, but others chose to circumvent the process.

“Our people still got their memos to him from behind because they knew his weak points and who to use. And he never stopped them. But the advantage I had was that the memos eventually came back to me,” he added.

The former diplomat also confirmed the existence of a powerful inner circle within Buhari’s administration, often referred to as “the cabal.”

“They say there was a cabal. There was. Every government has a cabal. They may call them a kitchen cabinet or a think-tank,” he said.

Gambari likened the situation to previous administrations, including that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who also had a close group of advisers.

“It’s the nature of the office of the President that they must have some people, in and out of government, whom they can talk to freely. Some have more power than others, but I’m bold to say that every government has a cabal,” he stated.

Reflecting on Buhari’s earlier tenure as a military Head of State, Gambari said he was not privy to the exact reasons for Buhari’s removal in 1985 but had heard that some military officers grew uncomfortable with the President’s reliance on external advice.

“One of the reasons I’m told was that the military people resented the fact that Buhari was getting a lot of advice and second-guessing decisions made by his military colleagues,” he said.

Gambari also described Buhari as a leader deeply loyal to his appointees, often reluctant to dismiss them even under intense pressure.