Former Chief of Staff to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, has disclosed how some individuals within the presidency bypassed him to send secret memos directly to Buhari, despite formal directives that all correspondences should pass through his office.
Speaking during an appearance on Channels Television’s programme Inside Sources on Friday, Gambari explained that although Buhari publicly instructed that memos be routed through the Chief of Staff, certain appointees exploited the president’s informal nature and close relationships to smuggle messages to him.
“They knew his weak moment, they knew when to smuggle (memos) because they knew him as they interacted with him informally,” Gambari stated.
He served in the role from May 2020 until May 2023, following the death of his predecessor, Abba Kyari.
According to him, “When I came as Chief of Staff to the President, he made a statement publicly. He said all memos must go through the Chief of Staff before coming to him.”
“Even the Vice President (Yemi Osinbajo), to his credit, always passed his memos through me and several ministers, but our people still got their memos to him from behind because they knew his weak point and who to use and he never stopped them but the advantage I had was that the memos came back to me,” he added.
Addressing the long-debated issue of a powerful inner circle or cabal within Buhari’s administration, Gambari confirmed its existence, noting that similar groups operate in every government, albeit under different labels.
“They say there was a cabal, there was. Every government has a cabal. They may call them a kitchen cabinet; they may call them a think tank,” he explained.
“(Former President Olusegun) Obasanjo had a group of people. The Aboyades of this world and others – a small group of people. It’s the nature of the office of the president that they must have some people in and out of government whom they can let their guard down to and talk to freely,” Gambari said.
He further noted that some cabal members wielded more influence than others, but such inner circles are an inherent part of presidential systems.
Reflecting on Buhari’s past as a military ruler, Gambari recalled, “I was a minister 1884–1985 but I wasn’t privy to why he was removed by his colleagues; they put him there but one of the reasons I’m told was the military people were resenting the fact that Head of State Buhari was now getting a lot of advice and second-guessing the decision of his military colleagues – the Supreme Military Council.”
Gambari also touched on Buhari’s leadership style, describing him as someone extremely loyal to his appointees and often hesitant to dismiss anyone, even under intense pressure.
