Gambari: Every government has a cabal… Buhari’s administration had one

Ibrahim Gambari, former chief of staff to late former President Muhammadu Buhari, says his principal had a “cabal” that he relied on.

However, the diplomat noted that the arrangement was not peculiar to Buhari’s presidency.

Gambari’s comment is from an excerpt of an interview with Laolu Akande, spokesperson to former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, scheduled to air Friday.

Stakeholders have always raised concerns about cabals in presidencies, especially on the undue influence of unelected individuals on governance and decision-making.

These small, influential cliques that operate behind the scenes typically in a secretive or non-transparent manner often shape key decisions, appointments, and policy directions — sometimes more so than official government structures or even the elected president.

Gambari acknowledged that Buhari had a small group of his own.

“I would address it honestly, and I want to and on record,” he said.

“They say there’s a cabal or was a cabal — there was, but every government has cabal. It is what they call them.

“Some call it ‘kitchen cabinet’, some may call it ‘think tank’. Obasanjo had a group of people, the Aboyades of this world and others, and a small group of people.

“It is the nature of the office of president that they must have some people in and out of government that they can lay their hair down, talk to freely.

“So, some have more powers than others, but every government, I make it bold say, has a cabal of one kind of or whatever name it is called.”

In 2018, Aisha, Buhari’s wife, raised the alarm about the authority of a few people who were allegedly calling the shots in her husband’s administration at the expense of the electorate.

But Buhari dismissed her concerns.

Earlier this year, Solomon Dalung, a former minister, said the cabal surrounding President Bola Tinubu is a lot more dangerous, sophisticated and ambitious than the “clique that cocooned” Buhari.

Dalung was Buhari’s youth and sports minister from 2015 to 2019.

According to Dalung, the Buhari cabal was less educated and lacked experience in politics and governance in contrast to Tinubu’s who are “sophisticated, ambitious, and educated, with sound knowledge of power dynamics”.

Dalung said the Tinubu cabal is the most dangerous in Nigeria’s history.